At last - some pots!

I unpacked the kiln last week and set all the pots out in my workshop. Many of them are pretty scarred and crusty with wadding and run glazes so there's plenty of grinding to do. But I have been so delighted with the results and so stressed that they might disintegrate that I've been leaving them alone till all the crazing has subsided. A few pieces (from Leicestershire materials) have auto destructed (dunted) but the rest seem fine. So.... a little tentative grinding today.

These two were from the front of the kiln - up by the firebox. The ash deposits have a yellow/gold crystallisation, which could be from the Hornbeam I used along with the Beech. I'll see next time when I'll fire with the rest of the Hornbeam.

Fired and opened!

I started the firing last Thursday at 7am and finished a bit earlier than usual, at around 2.30pm on Friday. Andy came over to help, which was great. I did a slightly looser pack at the front than usual with only one level of shelves. There was also an extra foot on the chimney and I refitted the grate area at the front. The firing itself went very well. Nice and smooth up to around 1100C then still a bit of a nudge to get it up to cone 9 down throughout, which we managed by around 8pm. A night of slow soaking, then gradual temperature rise till cone 12s down. This is usually another nudge but was pleasantly relaxed this time. Less reduction than the usual and then a few days of nail biting.

Today was the big day + with my heart in my mouth I opened it up. The photo is the view from the front, which is usually the best spot. The lesser reduction had made a difference here, which isn'r quite as good BUT the rest of the firing seems (so far) mercifully very good - especially considering it was really a very large test firing!
More images later.....

Many many days later......

Well, it's been a long time since I posted anything. After the last test firing I went on a few trips to collect clay samples and started preparing for a large wood firing. This pile of hornbeam is now nicely cut, split and stacked ready to go.

Then, many many days of preparing raw materials: clays and rocks. It is all just so incredibly time consuming. I've never really previously considered the ease in just opening a bag of commercially prepared clay, but from now on.......well, I'll never look at a bag of clay in the same way!
The firing has been delayed more and more as I grapple with practically every ceramic fault known to man, but at last I am glazing and doing a quick last minute biscuit firing. Packing next week and then firing. Andy has generously agreed to hep me again and I am now hoping for a 2 week continuation of the mild weather.
More posted soon - honest!

Good firing!

Yes yes yes. It was a beautiful sunny day, which bode well for the opening and....
it was good.

The reduction wasn't as heavy as usual, I got some of the dreaded 'melon skin' but temperature was perfect. This is the front of the stack. Left hand side all a bit weird as it seemed to miss out on the path of the flame.

...and here's a little beauty from the middle of the top shelf. Overall it was pretty good with a selection of real stunners. The modified kiln was rather problematic to fire + caused a few cool/weird areas in the chamber, so I won't be doing that again. Full kin next time.

New vid - past firing

http://youtu.be/e5eWb0zDLRE

Here is anew video I've put up, while waiting for this kiln to cool. This was shot in 2010.

FIRED!

The rain held off long enough for me to actually light the fire.....

It was an experimental firing - all the pieces in it were/are tests and, so that I didn't have to fill the entire kiln, I reconstructed the inside to block off the second chamber.

I wanted to see what a shorter firing was like as well, especially considering all the work in there was glazed in some way.
My concern with this modification to the kiln was that it would collapse, or act like another 3 feet of chimney greatly increasing the pull of the chimney. In the event neither concerns were founded - on the contrary, the draw on the firebox was reduced and I had two sticking points where I had to work very hard to get a temperature rise.

I lit the fire at 7.30 am, started reduction at 2.30 pm and continued firing till 3am when cone 10 was down and cone 11 just touched. 19.5 hours of hard stoking on my own and I am now absolutely knackered. But the day itself was fine. By 1am I had my second (or third) wind. Totally wired on adrenaline and fizzy pop. But it was fine - I could have gone on for a few hours more if needed.

Toasted the firing with a pint of Fullers ESB (best beer in the world) and sealed it all up. It's still at 900C at 1pm this afternoon.

Many many hours later......

.....after rock crushing, clay crushing, blunging, stiffening, making and glazing I am finally almost ready for a wood firing!!!!

Very exciting. After many gas test firings it is now time to see how all these materials behave in a wood firing. The kiln is all cleaned out from ash, wadding and red admiral butterflies(!), and I've made the most of this (sadly rare) sunny day to get all the wood ready.

Beech this time - perhaps the last of it (depends how much I use). Next time will be hornbeam, which I haven't fired with before.
The kiln is two chamber but as it is a sort of test firing I am going to brick off a lot of the second chamber so I am only really using the firebox area. Hopefully this will work well - just have to see. I will try and post a video of the firing.....