We fired the smokeless kiln at Manor Stokes in Sheffield again at the weekend and got some great results. Many thanks again to Sarah Villeneau and Penny Withers for all their hard work in orchestrating the event and helping to fire the kiln.
As it was quite a small group taking part this time, there was plenty of space in the kiln, and I was able to put a good number of pots in my preferred position..on the ground level near to the exit flues from the firebox. In this spot they get well and truly blasted by ash and flame, and coated with embers from side stoking. Here are a handful of pots I am delighted with, I'll post more photos once I've had a proper session with the camera later today.
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| Jar/vase, approx 4 inches tall |
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| Bottle vase, approx 5 inches tall |
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| Sake cup, approx 2 inches tall |
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| Carved rock vase, approx 4 inches tall |
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| Sake cup, approx 2.5 inches tall |
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| Jar/vase, approx. 4 inches tall |
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| Sake cup, approx 3 inches tall |
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| Sake cup (b) |
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| Sake cup, approx 3 inches tall |
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| Volcano vase, 6 inches tall |
The light coloured jar was pushed right into the firebox mouth, so it ended up practically buried in white-hot embers which have dried and bleached the shino glaze. The kiln was fired to around cone 10 but it was likely hotter than that at the base..in the past, this lower section has gone as high as 1350 degrees C.
The firing finished around 11pm on Sunday and I went over on the Wednesday to collect the work..early that evening I tried to collect some ash from the firebox and found that the embers were still glowing red hot!
