Pots from firing 10

Detail of standing stone

small pebbles and standing stone, dia 10cm

cutlery drainer and dish, ht 11cm

textured dish, dia 31cm

selection of mugs, ht 10cm

Firing 10

3 May 2010

Up at 5 am to put the gas on. I chose the right day to fire today. It's already daylight and the birds are just beginning to sing. No clouds on the horizon. Back to bed for a couple more hours.

2 7am 97°C Turn gas up. Still sunny but gusting from the north

7.30 157°C Large log in with the gas on it

3 8am 185°C Wood slow to catch fire

8.30 212°C Removed a half course of chimney bricks to allow wind to increase draft. Gas off

4 9am 440°C Oops! now romping away. Removed damper brick

9.30 532°C Slowing down, damper closed

5 10am 540°C

6 11am 690°C

7 12 noon 818°C First heavy smoke

8 1pm 1024°C First sign of reduction flame in chimney

9 2pm 1115°C

2.30 1150°C First soda into firebox

10 3pm 1169°C Second soda in

3.30 1190°C Third soda in. Cone 5 down

11 4pm 1208°C Cone 8 bending

4.30 1190°C Lots of fluctuation, 1224°C tops

12 5pm 1213°C Cone 8 down

5.30 1221°C Maggie arrives to view firing

13 6pm 1199°C Firing down whilst beginning to clam up the kiln.

6.15 1175°C Beer at 5°C

this firing included a cone 9 test glaze on the top shelf from Elizabeth Westman so I was trying to soak the kiln at top temperature to see if I could get the test to melt well. All cone 8’s throughout the kiln went down and there was a good melt of soda with some carbon trapping.

Image shows chimney brick beginning to sag out of line. Probably due to the bed of sand we used to even out the bumpy concrete. Rebuild will be required soon I think. You can just glimpse the test glaze at the back - black shiny, green where thin, good melt. Will get cone 9s for next firing.

Can't wait.