Snow Kiln

Snow, snow and more snow. In fact it is still snowing as I write. The past few days I have been spending about an hour each day pulling snow off roofs. Then shoveling it away. Another few inches and it will be waist deep on me. This is about twice what we usually get in a Winter. This is supposed to be the rain-shadow of the Coast Range. Now my poor kiln is also covered in the stuff. Only good part is that the water content is pretty low. Plus the fact that it would be -46 C like it is a bit to the North of us and beyond this storm track.
I was asked about the measurements of this kiln. Inside the chamber is 64 inches by 28 wide and 24 ish high. 9 courses high on the inside. Because it is made of used (very used) hardbrick there is mortar between the courses and that adds to the height. It is 9 inches thick. The Bourry Box has hobs. On top I use kiln shelves, a layer of soft brick then several layers of fiber blanket. The plans for this kiln were in Laid Back Wood-firing by Steve Harrison. I would recommend both the book and the kiln to anyone wanting to build a simple yet easy to fire kiln.Steve is very accessible and helpful. I have seen pots he fired for 16 hours in one of these kilns that are ringers for 4 day anagama fired work. Tons of ash and great flashing. I fire both 'naked' and glazed work and it works well for both.
It was so cold after my last firing that I neglected the usual clean up, thought it could wait until the Spring. As my studio is closed up until March it won't be until at least May before we fire again.
In the planning process for building two new kilns. One will be a gas conversion of an ancient Duncan electric and the other a 14.5 cu. ft.Flat Top. One will be updraft and the other crossdraft fired with propane. Too many days with the fire hazard up in the high and extreme range for wood firing so this will give me some options. Also will be able to do more frequent testing.
Meanwhile it is back to tend the wood stove and watch the snow come down.

Christmas Sales

 Cleaning shelves, got to be the worst job in pottery. This time it was angle grinder all the way.

 Kiln was in super-reduce mode, not good! Lots of refires in the back due to not enough air in the front. Did two back to back firings in the most horrible weather.

 And this is why. When I 'fixed' the top I made the air holes smaller than they were before. They were much bigger because the metal was warped and had opened up really big.....maybe that was why I got to temp hours faster than ever before??? Duh, and the fix was a f.....up.Off to my welder friend to open them up. Wish I still had all the wood I wasted. Oh well, live and learn!

 Don't have very much of this stuff left. I had left some home for the following sales and it's all gone too. Had lots of orders plus the sales. Really happy about it all. This was the first, over 4,000 people came. Considering the entire Yukon population is 33,000 I'd say that was good attendance!

Scarves, pots and dog fur hats. Ready for a rest. My next project is either buying or building a small propane fired kiln. I have 150 soft brick. Getting the bricks is the hard part. Sure I could make something that would work. Anyhow, now is the time to think and plan, building would be in the Spring. Tonight is supposed to get to -25 and colder the next few days. Last day of school is the 20 th.Time for a holiday!!

It's a Dirty Job, but Somebody has to Do It

Finally we have had some rain and the ground is now damp again. That means getting my kiln cleaned up and ready to fire. First on the list of undesirable jobs was cleaning the shelves. In an electric kiln you only have to do it if you have a runny glaze. At school I make sure that NEVER happens. Anything questionable goes onto clay 'cookies' that catch any drips. However..when you are firing with wood the ash becomes an airborne glaze that lands on everything. Of course that is why your pots turn out so great, but it also makes a huge mess of the shelves. Last time I got the brilliant idea to use some Aspen wood, a noted ash maker. Pots were outstanding, even got a dragon's eye pot ! The shelves were another story. Of course going to cone 12 instead of the usual 10 didn't help.
Enter my trusty angle grinder and a sharp chisel and a rock hammer. Safety glasses and the respirator for the dust. It only took about an hour and a half, but couldn't do it before because the grinding causes sparks and there is lots of dry grass around that could have caught fire. After the shelves are clean of glaze drips they have to have a good coat of kiln wash. This is a really refractory mix of kaolin and alumina that sort of helps protect them. Now we are good to go.
Next task was taking all the ash out. Did that. Then taking out the old silica sand on the floor. It also gets hard from all the melted ash, but does a really good job of protecting the kiln floor.
Brought out a bunch of pots and washed them. The glaze will 'crawl' if there is any dust on the pots. Tomorrow is glazing and loading. But before I can load I
have to make wadding.
Wads are used to separate everything, otherwise it would all get stuck together from the melted ash. You use kaolin, some alumina and sawdust dampened with enough water to hold them together without crumbling. You make little balls for the pots and big ones for the shelf props.
This really sounds like a lot of work just to get some pots fired! Wood firing is more work, but more fun too!
The last photo is of the cone packs drying out on top of my wood cookstove. For a treat I put up the spoonholder made for me by one of my best students. Actually he didn't make it for me....a leg fell off and he was going to ditch it in the trash but decided to give it to me instead. It is of a road kill crocodile with the visible tire tracks on the stomach!! That kid has a cool sense of humour.