March Kiln Firing

I'm getting ready for the Catawba Valley Pottery Festival in Hickory, NC this week-end. I decided to fire my wood kiln on Friday instead of Saturday because the weather was supposed to be bad on Saturday. The firing went somewhat smoothly until the wind picked up. Rain showers kept coming through late into the firing and the kiln stalled at around 2300 degrees. I usually fire to around 2450 degrees and then blast for 30 - 45 minutes holding the temperature above 2400. After over an hour of fighting to get the temperature over 2300 degrees, the weather broke and we (my wife handed me the wood as I tossed it in) got the temperature to 2370. I was able to hold this temperature for about an hour. Cone 12 went down in the middle and cone 11 was completely bent in the back. This firing lasted about 13 long, hard hours.

This is a picture of inside the ware chamber.

Here's one of the pots from Friday's firing. It's a wig stand with a toad on his head. The "warts" took a long time to put on. Check out the photo album on my web site to see more pictures from my latest firing.