In 2004 artists Adrian Castelo, Terry Robinson, Gloria Garland, and I fired for three days before Christmas, culminating in a final firing and a beautiful sunset on Christmas Eve. Many friends and curious onlookers stopped by, attracted by the smoke and fire.   We used a propane fueled 55 gallon drum kiln with an insulating blanket, and aluminum garbage cans and buckets packed with newspaper, straw, and oak leaves for reduction.  Most of our glazes were Georgie's Ceramics raku glazes, with a few home-made glazes thrown in.  Each day the glazes came out better as we got to know the kiln, and on the last day, one after another, the pieces came out beautifully.   AJ and Terry experimented with broken shards of stained glass on several baskets and trays, resulting in random pools of melted glass at the bottom of the piece.  Terry's figural piece, (shown below), was glazed with white crackle and sprinkled with small shards of white, blue, and clear glass.  The end result was fabulous, with the glass beading up on the surface of the piece making her look like she is lounging in a bubble bath.