Hi Dolita and friends,I just wanted to share with you all a recap and some photos of the wood firing out at Mike Hayes' property from this past Saturday.
The weather was great and we had four potters wheels out under the kiln shed for people to demonstrate techniques or try throwing for the first time. One of the wheels is a Grossley that's a hundred years old, it's fun to see people try their hand on that. It was a nice workshop during the day with a face jug demonstration by Keven Payne among other throwing and hand-building demos as the kiln slowly built temperature. When we reached cone 12, Ben Chamberlain pulled a piece out to do a Hikidashi raku.
The food was plentiful and very good, much like at the meetings. There was a big variety of people and their dogs, I don't know why but it seemed like everyone brought a dog, it was funny. It was good to see people who have never made a thing out of clay get involved and inspired to make something.
Overall the day went very well, the firing was a good first firing with minor problems that will be corrected next time. We fired for 18 hours and reached cone 14 in the front, 11 in the middle, and 9 in the back, but after assessing our kiln log and talking with others that fire the same kiln I feel like we can get a better handle on it next time. This is by far the funnest wood kiln I ever fired, it can be done in one day with two ricks of wood. The ability to make small changes in the kiln during firing to correct or cause change in flame and heat distribution is credited to it's amazing design.
I can see this place as a potential meeting point for the clay club sometime in the future. If anyone is interested to participate in the wood firings at Mike's place in Henryville, IN, you can contact him at MikeHayes@wcrtc.net
Happy potting,
Ben Hammond
