15 September 2008

Wood Firing


I spent this past weekend at a local art studio for a wood firing. I just got back into ceramics last year after an especially long hiatus. Back when I made pots and such kind of regular, I never had the opportunity to participate in this kind of firing. It is tremendously labor intensive, but the results are fantastic.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the loading (forgot my camera) but I was able to get in some clicks on the second day before things got real busy. On day two I got there around seven in the morning and by noon we had a crew of about ten or twelve.

The fires were started around 6:30 in the morning and they reached cone ten around 5:00. The gentleman in charge of the firing said that when we reached cone ten, the flame from the fire would be around 60 feet in length and it would snake all through the pots before it sparked out of the chimney.

The pots will be cool enough to unload in about three days. If all went well I'll be sure to share some shots.



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to the pics - what a great way to spend the weekend.

Anonymous said...

Let's see some pics of your work! How hot does this need to be? I messed with glass blowing for awhile and it was pretty hot. This is a cool rig. What about a pop-up rainstorm? Heat + water sounds ugly to me...

frugalmom said...

Camt wait to see the pictures. Hurry up already!

MamaHen said...

Ooooh! Now, I'm going to comment! Pots! pots! Yea! Wood fired! Yea! I only fire to cone 6 but thats OK for now. I hope to eventually build a small wood fired kiln here. At the university where I got my BFA they have build an anagama kiln. I think it is one of only 3 in the US or something. I had one piece fired in it; it came out kinda crappy. Oh well. Looking forward to pics of your pots!!

Deanna Caswell said...

WOW. I thought that was in your backyard for a sec. But, still, WOW. Can't wait to see what you made.

Ivory

www.littlehouseinthesuburbs.com

Anonymous said...

Yes! Yes! Fantastic, Kelly! Willi Singleton of Pine Creek Pottery (at the foot of Hawk Mountain, near us) has the most amazing beehive kilns that are also wood-fired. Yes, talk about labor-intensive, but oh my, those pots! Liek everyone else, fingers crossed that your pots turned out great and I can't wait to see 'em.