Chimney fire

Lee took this short video of chimney flames the last night of the firing, as we fired through the night.

Two pots from spring firing

Here are two pots that I grabbed out from a new shelf that I put in the corner of the firebox. The kiln is still at about 200F, but hey sometimes thats the way it is.

Placing trivets for woodfiring

Here is a picture of some trivets that I pressmolded out of some wadding. I use them to place cups and small bowls. They really help when loading the kiln. A rather long process that I didn't look forward to, now rockets right along.

The formula for the wadding is:

Fireclay 50%
Silica sand 35%

Alumina Hydrate 15%

I use coarse fireclay, Hawthorn Bond if I have it.

Reduction Cooling

We decided to reduction cool the spring firing. I have done this before and have gotten nice clay body color and also very nice ash color.
The kiln was first all shut down and silled up with one side stoke left to stoke into. Lee took the first shift and stoked a few pieces of wood into the kiln every ten to fifteen minutes to keep the atmosphere smoky and reducing. I took the second shift and continued until the temperature was at about 1600F. This took about six hours. Now we wait and see how the pots look... sometimes the hardest part!

Staring into paradise

Lynn took this picture of me stoking on the fourth day, I'm always surprised at how crazed I look.

Fire Gazing

Ah. Here is a nice picture of Leona Rock side stoking at the end of the firing.

Pots in fire

Here is a picture of the pots in the front of the kiln at about cone 010. Tuesday morning, three days to go.

Some loading pics from the spring 2008 firing

Here are some pictures of the pots for the spring firing as they are loaded into the kiln. I am still inside the kiln wadding the last pots in the firebox while Leona is bricking up the door. This is an odd feeling to say the least.

Some square plates and bottles

Here are some squared plates and bottles ready to go into the kiln. The bottles are put on top of the plates with shells in between. The plates have a shino glaze on them that works well with the shells. I'm trying a saturated iron glaze that has worked well in woodfiring. Well it's time to go back into the kiln.