By the end of my first day at KVO my crate had still not arrived and I was beginning to panic. My time was limited to this one week in Santa Rosa, and if the crate did not arrive and I did not get the work done, I would have no option but to pack it back up and send it back home to Dallas unfinished. Additionally, while I was renting time and space at KVO, I still had to be courteous of the workers spaying and firing schedule. The week I was there was a busy one. They had just begun on a big order for a large number of blank grey panels that would be used for changeable vinyl signage at a university. Also that week they were working on a series of prototype photo collage panels for a funeral home that would be mounted on headstones. The use of durable enamel signage for grave makers was not a use that had occurred to be before, but turns out to be a growing market.
I began my second day at KVO with still no crate, and spent the morning calling the freight company and working on samples. I would be using a combination of Thompson and their in-house mixed enamels. I had worked with this combo at home, but knew you could never do too many samples, and something new always comes up working in a new space.
Finally midday my crate arrived and work would really begin. The panels would need to be sanded in the areas where rust had begun to form and a few needed additional tabs added for hanging. The interior of the KVO kiln is 8 ft long and 7 ft high and 3 ft deep. There are hanging tracks on both sides so during high production they do not have to wait for a load to cool and be unloaded before doing the next firing. By the end of my second day the panels were washed and ready to begin work.