Going back to Prague
1 year ago
30 April 2012
Rebuilding the anagama
None of the four of us has done this before. I've built my boxy unmortared little kiln, Jan is planning an anagama, Rob is an engineer (mostly of software ! ) and Julia has a building company. In other words lots of theory but no experience.
It looked worse than I had remembered. Not just the general air of abandonment which an unused kiln seems to have but the very real state of imminent collapse of the front arch. We quickly droped our optimistic hope of jacking up a former under the arch and it all settling neatly back into place.The arch came down, at least that bit was easy.
Making the former was relatively easy (Rob did it). Inserting it into the space left by the arch without pushing over the arch supports was awkward. Working out how to tie the front arch brickwork to the rear arch brick work .... We didn't work it out, or tie it in, but they are wedged together firmly and the second layer of bricks is covering the gaps.
Last arch bricks coming out, former in place, looks a bit small to me
Patricia Shone
Patricia Shone
29 April 2012
Rebuilding the anagama at Higham Hall
19 April 2012
Firing 24 continued
Turned out to be a good firing.
Light north easterly breeze, frost and a crescent moon rising at 5 in the morning. Sunshine most of the day and only a little snow first thing!
Slow fire through 900ºC as there was one raw platter to consider then a gradual and steady rise in temperature without any stalling.
First soda in at 1130º after 10 hours (250g soda)
Cone 7 bending at 1199º after 12 hours
Cone 8 bending at 1220º after 13 hours
and cone 9 going down after 14 hours.
I finished the firing at 7.45 just short of 15 hours having reached a top temperature of 1255ºC and cone 10 nicely down.
I wonder why this firing was so smooth. Perhaps the weather direction, no gusts of cold air around the kiln. Perhaps I was more relaxed with it being a last minute decision and not too concerned about the contents. It followed the same pattern as firing 23 even to the exact same temperature of 1130º after 10 hours, but the previous firing seemed to stall later on and it was a struggle to get cone 9 down.
photos of the results to follow
Light north easterly breeze, frost and a crescent moon rising at 5 in the morning. Sunshine most of the day and only a little snow first thing!
Slow fire through 900ºC as there was one raw platter to consider then a gradual and steady rise in temperature without any stalling.
First soda in at 1130º after 10 hours (250g soda)
Cone 7 bending at 1199º after 12 hours
Cone 8 bending at 1220º after 13 hours
and cone 9 going down after 14 hours.
I finished the firing at 7.45 just short of 15 hours having reached a top temperature of 1255ºC and cone 10 nicely down.
I wonder why this firing was so smooth. Perhaps the weather direction, no gusts of cold air around the kiln. Perhaps I was more relaxed with it being a last minute decision and not too concerned about the contents. It followed the same pattern as firing 23 even to the exact same temperature of 1130º after 10 hours, but the previous firing seemed to stall later on and it was a struggle to get cone 9 down.
photos of the results to follow
15 April 2012
Firing 24
A last minute decision to fire after realising how few weeks there are before the summer exhibition and markets season kicks off. My support team goes back to work in a couple of days and it's always better firing with a regular supply of tea
and sandwiches. Plus there's a new puppy who needs constant tickles (no, there will be no puppy pictures, this is a potting blog). And yesterday morning we had to finish putting the skin on the poly tunnel before the weather changes back to it's windy norm. Given all that I don't quite know how I got a kiln load glazed and packed in time to fire today. It's a fairly loose and 'creative' pack. Several long platters which use up a lot of shelf space, some refires, test pieces and odds and ends. Potentially a waste of time and wood. However sitting here in the sunshine, watching the spring bloom amid the occassional snow flurry I know it is worth it (always is).
(Oh alright here's the puppy)
10 April 2012
Funding for a bigger kiln
Well it looks like this blog may continue as a kiln and firing blog for a while longer. I've been awarded funding from Creative Scotland and HI-Arts towards the building of a new and larger wood kiln.
(YIPEEEEEE!)
Patricia Shone
www.patriciashone.co.uk
www.skyewoodfire.blogspot.com
25 February 2012
Firing 23
No wonder I was twitchy, it’s 5 months since the last firing. According to the weather forecasts I shouldn’t have been able to do this one either. However a kick into action from the angels earlier in the week in and I managed to coordinate being ready for the only decent day we have had in weeks (months to be honest, though it feels like years, but this is NOT a ‘moan-about-the-weather’ post)
I’ve been putting myself under pressure to make pots ready for a firing here and for the Higham Anagama in April. The calendar is filling up with Potfests and galleries wanting work. I knew I would have to be ready to fire at short notice if the weather looked promising. It takes a day to pack the kiln, carrying glazed pots from the studio, wadding them, placing them, taking them out again, rearranging them to squeeze another one in or to get a better flow of flame around them. Too much wind and rain on this day makes it very unpleasant to pack. So really I like two good days in a row.
This time I had a potter friend from Aberdeen (Sjarifah Roberts) to help carry and pass stuff which was a great help although she couldn’t stay for the firing. She’s wanting to build a kiln herself and it’s SO much easier to understand all the variables of kiln design when you are actually standing in front of one. The books are great but nothing beats getting involved with someone else's build or firing.
The usual start at 5am to put the gas on low. I had given the kiln 4 hours of drying the evening before, even so it continued to steam like a sauna for the entire firing. I was concerned that the wood might be damp too from months of high humidity.
The morning was dry but overcast with a breeze from the west which continued for most of the day with a few showers and quite a bit of sunshine.
Firing followed it’s usual pattern at first although I kept the gas going for an extra 2 hours after introducing the first wood at 8am.
Normally I get reduction happening at 900ºc after 8 hours. This time it was at 1000ºC, perhaps the wind in the west was increasing the draft, it certainly takes the smoke away from the shed very effectively. Generally it was a more oxidising firing with a low bed of embers which I only had to scrape out once.
Another potter friend (Robyn McGraw) arrived at 1pm and helped with the stoking for a few hours while I drove around the village looking for the dog who isn’t impressed with the kiln and prefers to hunt for bird food scraps that the neighbours leave out (and he steals my wood). The first soda went in after 10 hours at about 1150ºC. then two more lots during the next hour. About ? g in total.
Robin had to leave at 4pm so missed 1200ºC at which point there was an almighty downpour and i lost temperature which stalled the kiln at about 1160º. It was a long slow climb back to 1220, achieved by closing the shed doors and feeding one small piece of wood at a time for for the next 3 hours. Because the kiln is built mostly of HTI bricks it has a low mass and doesn’t hold its temperature for long. It was raining more by now and blowing from the south west into the fire box. Exhausting but satisfying finally to achieve 1220º for a while and see cone 9 going down.
I’ve been putting myself under pressure to make pots ready for a firing here and for the Higham Anagama in April. The calendar is filling up with Potfests and galleries wanting work. I knew I would have to be ready to fire at short notice if the weather looked promising. It takes a day to pack the kiln, carrying glazed pots from the studio, wadding them, placing them, taking them out again, rearranging them to squeeze another one in or to get a better flow of flame around them. Too much wind and rain on this day makes it very unpleasant to pack. So really I like two good days in a row.
This time I had a potter friend from Aberdeen (Sjarifah Roberts) to help carry and pass stuff which was a great help although she couldn’t stay for the firing. She’s wanting to build a kiln herself and it’s SO much easier to understand all the variables of kiln design when you are actually standing in front of one. The books are great but nothing beats getting involved with someone else's build or firing.
The usual start at 5am to put the gas on low. I had given the kiln 4 hours of drying the evening before, even so it continued to steam like a sauna for the entire firing. I was concerned that the wood might be damp too from months of high humidity.
The morning was dry but overcast with a breeze from the west which continued for most of the day with a few showers and quite a bit of sunshine.
Firing followed it’s usual pattern at first although I kept the gas going for an extra 2 hours after introducing the first wood at 8am.
Normally I get reduction happening at 900ºc after 8 hours. This time it was at 1000ºC, perhaps the wind in the west was increasing the draft, it certainly takes the smoke away from the shed very effectively. Generally it was a more oxidising firing with a low bed of embers which I only had to scrape out once.
Another potter friend (Robyn McGraw) arrived at 1pm and helped with the stoking for a few hours while I drove around the village looking for the dog who isn’t impressed with the kiln and prefers to hunt for bird food scraps that the neighbours leave out (and he steals my wood). The first soda went in after 10 hours at about 1150ºC. then two more lots during the next hour. About ? g in total.
Robin had to leave at 4pm so missed 1200ºC at which point there was an almighty downpour and i lost temperature which stalled the kiln at about 1160º. It was a long slow climb back to 1220, achieved by closing the shed doors and feeding one small piece of wood at a time for for the next 3 hours. Because the kiln is built mostly of HTI bricks it has a low mass and doesn’t hold its temperature for long. It was raining more by now and blowing from the south west into the fire box. Exhausting but satisfying finally to achieve 1220º for a while and see cone 9 going down.
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