Ashes to ashes....Pots to pots

[ABCarve]

The image below is a trident maple I had for about 19 years and decided to turn up its toes about 4 years ago. The carcass has been put in the wood kiln (Anagama kiln) to help fire the pots within. The poetic part of this is that the flying ashes created from the burning lands on the pots and creates the glaze/color of the pot once fired. The tree may be dead but not forgotten in the pot.
The kiln finished firing Sunday which temperature reached approx. 2450 F. or cone 12 in ceramics language. It will cool until Thursday before unloading. Just like Christmas, I'll have to see if I got a nice present or a piece of coal. Stay tuned.

 

[tmmason10]

Pretty cool, I look forward to seeing the result.

 

[GrimLore]

Very nice idea, hope to see follow pictures soon and perhaps a larger pic of the Anagama kiln.

Grimmy

 

[prestontolbert]

Awesome! My buddy Rob always likes to use a dead tree as the final stoke, and I picked up the habit. Thankfully I don't have a dead tree for every firing! It is a fitting end for a good old tree to become part of the glaze on new bonsai pots.
-PT

 

[ABCarve]

Well.......As grandfather said in the movie Little Big Man, "Sometimes the magic works and sometimes it don't". It didn't crack....however, a most unremarkable pot. If you believe it, I had a cream glaze on it. Black & Tan is my take on it. We think the kiln got much hotter than expected, cone 13-14, which probably burned out the color and caused the warping. Oh well....we are all students and that's how you learn. Many of the other pots were just fine (porcelain). You know its like the lottery....you gotta play to win. Welcome to ceramics!!

 

[ABCarve]

The first pic.....kids looking for Christmas!!! The inside temp was still 350 F.

 

[tmmason10]

Well I like how it looks, but the warping probably tough to get by. Any other pots of yours from t at kiln?

 

[Dale Cochoy]

Dave, I just realized who this is!
When did you take up pottery and build the wood-fired kiln?
I never heard a thing about that?

BTW, I still love my right angle draw knife!! :>) My favorite jin tool.

 

[ABCarve]

Dave, I just realized who this is!
When did you take up pottery and build the wood-fired kiln?
I never heard a thing about that?

BTW, I still love my right angle draw knife!! :>) My favorite jin tool.

Hey Dale,

I saw some of your posts...thought it could be fun. I didn't build a wood kiln. It's at Edinboro's (EUP)ceramics dept. I have some pals there and I'm auditing classes. Really good fun. A whole lot faster than woodcarving. They don't fire it often. Only when they have a student willing to organize the effort and it is a lot of effort and wood. We had teams of 3...24 hours a day for 3 days. A wheelbarrow load every 10 to 15 minutes at the peak.

 

[pjkatich]

Hello Dave,

Have you made pots before?

That's to bad about the warp. Regardless, I think you did a good job on the construction of this pot.

Did the kiln really get to cone 12? If so, that might account for the warp-age.

Cheers,
Paul

 

[ABCarve]

Hello Dave,

Have you made pots before?

That's to bad about the warp. Regardless, I think you did a good job on the construction of this pot.

Did the kiln really get to cone 12? If so, that might account for the warp-age.

Cheers,
Paul

I took a ceramic class in at Edinboro U of PA 40 years ago. Thought I'd try it again. Cone 12 was in a little puddle. Porcelain doesn't seem to mind the heat. I used stoneware.

 

[pjkatich]

I took a ceramic class in at Edinboro U of PA 40 years ago. Thought I'd try it again. Cone 12 was in a little puddle. Porcelain doesn't seem to mind the heat. I used stoneware.

The gentleman that taught me to throw went to school at Edinboro. I understand that they have a very good ceramics program there.

Store bought stoneware will have a hard time holding up to that hot of a firing. The other factor that will effect your work is the wadding. I could see other warped pieces in the photo you posted of the inside of the kiln. Extra care must be taken in how your work is wadded up for the firing.

I also noticed that they were stacking some work on top of each other. This too will cause you problems. Especially at that high a temperature.

Best of luck with your pottery Dave.

Cheers,
Paul

 

[Dale Cochoy]

Hey Dale,

I saw some of your posts...thought it could be fun. I didn't build a wood kiln. It's at Edinboro's (EUP)ceramics dept. I have some pals there and I'm auditing classes. Really good fun. A whole lot faster than woodcarving. They don't fire it often. Only when they have a student willing to organize the effort and it is a lot of effort and wood. We had teams of 3...24 hours a day for 3 days. A wheelbarrow load every 10 to 15 minutes at the peak.

Keep up the pottery dave, but, don't give up the beautiful carving!!

Dale

 

[bumblebee]

So Dale, How did your firing turn out?

Libby

 

[Mac In Oak Ridge]

I only got to the second photo and then got stuck. ...

 

[ABCarve]

The gentleman that taught me to throw went to school at Edinboro. I understand that they have a very good ceramics program there.

Store bought stoneware will have a hard time holding up to that hot of a firing. The other factor that will effect your work is the wadding. I could see other warped pieces in the photo you posted of the inside of the kiln. Extra care must be taken in how your work is wadded up for the firing.

I also noticed that they were stacking some work on top of each other. This too will cause you problems. Especially at that high a temperature.

Best of luck with your pottery Dave.

Cheers,
Paul

We don't use store bought...we have to mix our own. Actually it was the wadding that caused the warp and cone 13-14. I think I'll stick to gas kiln. I'm over my fascination with the anagama. There are two profs there that did their masters in wood firing, however, this one was done by a grad student. He was the "kiln master".......hmmmm??. He lost all his big stuff from dunting. Good fun all the same. Great way to build community burning a lot of wood. The high energy students are great to be around and curious about it all. Oh.... the stacking was intentional to make it warp.

 

[prestontolbert]

The main thing I do to get around warping is to make a whole lot of pots and expect to lose half. That way If more than half survive, I can consider it a success. lol Seriously, the main cause of warping is the shelf itself warping. For larger pots I always chose the flattest shelf possible and I'm very careful to have a very stable stack with perfectly vertical post alignment. And most of the time instead of wadding I use rice hulls. They, apparently are very difficult to find, as I had to drive to Darlington, SC to get a load. As long as you use good kiln wash and keep the kiln below cone 12, rice hulls are great. The other thing is my firing schedule. I fire to cone 9 bending (about 24 hours) and hold for 2 days then bump it up at the end to just bend cone 11. Soaking for that long builds up a really nice glaze and allows a super even heat throughout. By the way I really love the roof on that anagama, the way the arch ripples I can imagine the flame rolling and jumping through the kiln.
-PT

 

[ABCarve]

The main thing I do to get around warping is to make a whole lot of pots and expect to lose half. That way If more than half survive, I can consider it a success. lol Seriously, the main cause of warping is the shelf itself warping. For larger pots I always chose the flattest shelf possible and I'm very careful to have a very stable stack with perfectly vertical post alignment. And most of the time instead of wadding I use rice hulls. They, apparently are very difficult to find, as I had to drive to Darlington, SC to get a load. As long as you use good kiln wash and keep the kiln below cone 12, rice hulls are great. The other thing is my firing schedule. I fire to cone 9 bending (about 24 hours) and hold for 2 days then bump it up at the end to just bend cone 11. Soaking for that long builds up a really nice glaze and allows a super even heat throughout. By the way I really love the roof on that anagama, the way the arch ripples I can imagine the flame rolling and jumping through the kiln.
-PT

The rice hulls sound great and so does the firing schedule. My pot was on the floor, so shelf wasn't an issue. There are three terraces in the kiln but most of one tier is used for side stoking. The flames do roll...its just like burning satan.

 

[Jester217300]

Awesome. I just went to an anagama kiln firing this past weekend. I'm hoping to commission some unique hand crafted pots from my friends who work there.

 

[Lazylightningny]

Sorry, I couldn't get past the redhead. Were there pots in that kiln?