Ninth Firing: Some of the Pots
Firing number nine. We seemed to get more ash buildup and more sheen on the pots in general. Levi did a lot more stirring in the firebox between stokes, and we think this might be one reason for the increase in ash buildup and sheen. Our firing time was very similar to firing number eight, about 16 hours. Levi prefired the kiln the night before we fired for three or four hours up to about 500 degrees F. As usual, we stoked with more hardwood until we opened the passive dampers (partially), at between cone 7 and 8 in the front of the kiln; then, we used mostly pine. Our pine this time was fresher than last time.
I do wonder what the results would look like had we allowed the kiln to cool naturally. We chose to stoke heavily on the last stoke and seal the kiln up slowly. I glazed a few pots with my ash/rock dust/red clay glaze and the glaze turned a very matte green with a very velvety texture. Many of the unglazed pots in this load developed a light sheen on areas that didn't get a lot of ash buildup. Flashing was more subtle. Cone 13 down flat in the front. Cone 8 (bottom) and 9 (top) in the very back.
Tree Bowl, glazed inside with 'Purple Haze', unglazed outside, fired on floor next to firebox, StarWhite 10 clay
Tall, skinny pitcher glazed on top with blue ash glaze
Ovoid jar thrown with my local clay, glazed with rock dust/ash/red clay glaze
Large jar by Levi with shino glaze over local clay
Lidded jar, unglazed and fired on floor in front of kiln, Grogeeweemee 10 clay
Four carafes, left one glazed with rock dust/ash/local clay glaze
Tall, thin pitcher made of local clay and glazed with rock dust/ash/local clay glaze
Bottle, Aurora clay
Tree jar made with Grogeeweemee 10, unglazed,
fired on top shelf next to firebox
fired on top shelf next to firebox
