The wood-fired kiln
photo by Kiqe Bosch
The body of the kiln is a self-supporting caternary arch. and holds approximately 120 pots, in its 1 cubic meter interior. The kiln takes about 12 hours to fire,the final temperature is around 2450 degrees Fahrenheit, when cone 10 is completely down. A firing consumes about one half cord of wood. One person could fire the kiln alone, though it is much more manageable with two or three. Stoking is constant, every ten minutes to start, every two or three minutes late in the firing.
The ash from the wood fire slowly accumulates on the pots inside the kiln, and then melts once the kiln is hot enough. In this way, the fire actually paints, or glazes, the pot. The resulting surface is varied, subtle, and organic looking; similar, perhaps to the surface of a stone that has been modified by hundreds of years of lying in a stream, or old wood, effected by wind, sun, water, moss, lichens.
The ash from the wood fire slowly accumulates on the pots inside the kiln, and then melts once the kiln is hot enough. In this way, the fire actually paints, or glazes, the pot. The resulting surface is varied, subtle, and organic looking; similar, perhaps to the surface of a stone that has been modified by hundreds of years of lying in a stream, or old wood, effected by wind, sun, water, moss, lichens.
The kiln has 4 peep-holes, to allow a view of the interior , while firing. Pyrometric cones are used to monitor the temperature.