This past month Lynn participated in a four day wood firing at kiln Master Tony Moore’s combination Anagama/Noborigama kiln. This kiln holds hundreds of pots from more than 30 potters. It is a four day, four night, around the clock firing using approximately 5 cords of wood. This kiln is manned by at least two people at a time as there are 3 firing ports that are fed large pieces of wood on a continuous basis. Lynn is on Tony’s ‘team’. She makes the wadding needed to support the pots on the shelves. She does this before the firing as each artisan must place the wadding in multiple areas on the bottoms of their pots so as not to have the pots adhere to the kiln shelves. The firing of the kiln reaches 2400 degrees and is held there for a day or so to mature the glazes made by the ash from the wood. This is called ‘fly ash’. This ash actually glazes the ware. The cooling of the kiln takes 2 weeks before the bricked up door is opened. The formation of crystals and the heat work surprise us all when the kiln is opened.
During a shift....Midnight to 8 AM
Most of the wood in the photo will be gone at the end of the firing
Another 400 degrees. It takes many hours. Then at least a day holding it at that temperature
Finally! White heat!!!!
This is a photo of the kiln opening. All the pallets will be filled with pots for everyone to see. It’s a bit like Christmas....
2 comments:
Thank you , informative, fun read.
Very interesting, thanks for sharing this process.
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