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| Making tends to happen in concentrated bursts when a firing or exhibition is on the horizon! |
| I have found that raw glazing gives a rhythm to the making that I enjoy. It enables me to see through the process of creating a batch of pots from raw clay to kiln-ready without interruption, and gives more variety to the workshop routine. I don't think I have had more seconds than I had before and some things are easier - overglaze decoration, for example, and touching up whilst the glaze is still wet. |
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| There are two live-flame kilns at Hookshouse, and a small electric kiln in the workshop. |
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| The 60 cu ft oil kiln was built in 1980 to the old COSIRA design with Swirlamiser burners, and after about 130 firings is still going strong. |
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| The 18 cu ft wood kiln (above) was built in 1999 to the Paul Stubbs/Micki Schloessingk design, first launched at the International Potters' Camp at Aberystwyth. It has a very large firebox, with a layer of hemitubes which make it possible to control the level of ash and embers by opening a mousehole at floor level. It also has a Paul Stubbs engineered door, which saves the potter from heat exhaustion whilst stoking in the 1200's! It is a very potter friendly kiln, with bags of power, easy to fire on one's own. It even reduces well! |
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| My firing schedule in the wood kiln involves a very thorough preheat of the raw pots, a slow progression (50 degrees per hour) through the 500’s to help the large pots cope with silica inversion, and a slow rise from 950 to 1000 rather than a soak as such to ensure that burning out is achieved. Reduction starts in the mid 800’s and continues, apart from the burning out stage, until Cone 8 is down in all parts. I aim to have Cone 10 down everywhere before I stop the final oxidised soak, which usually means Cone 11 is down in the hottest area. |
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