Firing Process
Firing the pots is one of the more interesting and intense parts of the process. Making, decorating, and loading the pots in the kiln is only the prelude to the dramatic interaction between the clay and fire which follows.
We begin with a light fire in the front firebox and preheat the kiln for twelve hours or so. From then, working in shifts over approximately twelve hours, using pine and mixed hardwood slabs, we increase the temperature by one hundred to two hundred degrees per hour. Though my kiln is modest in size for a wood kiln it still requires side-stoking which involves putting thinner strips of wood through small ports toward the back of the kiln. Once the kiln is at a top temperature in the front ( around 2350 degrees Fahrenheit) we begin side stoking and this helps to pull the heat toward the back of the kiln where the temperature is cooler due to its lack of proximity to the front firebox. Once we get the kiln to an even heat front to back, we blow salt into the front and sides of the kiln. The salt volatilizes and fuses with the silica in the clay body and glazes causing it to melt creating an orange peel-like surface on the pot. Finally, in order to enhance the shiny quality on the pot, we open up the ports in the kiln and crash cool to 1700 degrees and then close the kiln entirely. The kiln cools for a few days and then finally the unloading begins!
"…(with any luck) the Pots emerge as the creation of the combat between the clay and the fire” within the Kiln. Collectively, the features created by this awesome combat are termed the ‘scenery of the pot’. Certain aspects of natural scenery are felt to be embodied, transfigured, in the pot itself.”
— Louise Court from ”Shigaraki Jars of Japan”
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