The Kilning Fields

There kilning me in North Carolina. Everywhere I turn is a kiln I'd like to jump into.
Check out this big kiln being built by Seagrove potter Chad Brown. This kiln is the size of a small condo in downtown Toronto that would sell for $600,000. It is a three bedroom condo. The top studio apartment has a silica gravel floor so that three guys can lift a big pot up there without wadding it. He figures 9-10 big pots on that floor alone. Yep, 3 guys to lift a pot. The kiln holds literally thousands of pots. He has an order for 800 mugs that will be a small part of the kiln. Big pots also go up front and along the sides of the firebox. He has been building the kiln for 2 years and dreaming about it for 10.
Takuro and Hitomi Shibata are firing their small bourry box kiln today. They also have a large chamber kiln but are taking the wee sports car out for a spin today. Dan and I have some clay tests in it and will be going over later to point and grunt.
There is an electric reduction kiln here at Star that is reduced with a small 5 gallon tank of gas that we are going to fire within the next 2 weeks. It can be programmed for reduction cool if that is an option we want to try out.
Chad Brown ordered us wood to fire the ground hog kiln at The North Carolina Pottery Centre in Seagrove. Thanks Chad!  I just have to fire a ground hog kiln while I'm in the south. I have a poster at home in The Promised Land of one of my southern pottery heroes Burlon Craig. I saw one of his small ugly jugs yesterday for $375- hmmmmmmmmmmm if I were a rich man.




Comments

Unknown said…
I got great results in that groundhog kiln! Loved it, aside from the loading.

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