Our latest (and greatest) firing

November 10, 2015

So two weeks ago, I was home for my reading week, which was the perfect way to get back into some potting. With the busy Christmas and Holiday season fast approaching, and guild sales, open houses and everything else mixed in, it was important we got another wood firing in.

Focusing just on glazing, I wanted to try a lot of new designs and colours this time around, to try and break up the style of work I had been doing. Here are some pictures of the glazing process, including a before and after view of the spray booth that desperately needed to be cleaned.

The firing itself was a little long, around 15 or 16 hours, but it was definitely one of our best. We loaded the kiln a little looser this time to encourage more air flow and heat distribution. I was worried since all my pieces had copper red on them, one of the hardest glazes to do consistently in a wood kiln. The fluxes and changes within the kiln can wreak havoc with the finished piece, especially as you're trying to keep a constant state of reduction over many many hours.

We didn't finish until sunrise, but it was definitely worth the long wait. A few days later and the results were wonderful. This was one of our best firings to date for colour and consistency. Here is the opened kiln, as well as some photo's of how my new pieces turned out.

December 18, 2014

The last firing of the year, always the toughest. Without my son Peter to help with loading the kiln with his work, I had to make enough work to fill the kiln. It took two weeks longer than I had hopped.

I managed to finish last minute orders, and work for galleries just in time for Christmas. My daughter April was able to help me fire the kiln till 4:30 am in the morning, another marathon when firing with wood. In the photos you can see the back two rows before and after the firing, it feels like old black and white photos and then full colour. The whole process is still very magical, not knowing exactly what you're going to get. Sometimes the results are a gift from the kiln, and other times, even with all your best efforts, nothing turns out right. But like everything in pottery, you keep trying your best and become the eternal optimist. Yes, my next firing will be even better, right!

A sincere THANK-YOU to everyone for your generous support and encouragement throughout the year. A heartfelt Merry Crristmass to everyone.

Joseph and Peter

Wear and Tear

October 13, 2014

During the last firing, we had a very shocking, and potentially dangerous surprise. Midway through the firing, well after starting reduction and getting to around 1800 degrees fahrenheit, a piece of the kiln floor broke and fell into the fire box. This was a real scare since we didn't know the extent of the damage, and it was a VERY large piece that fell. Did the floor completely break? Did the pieces inside move? Could the whole stack have fallen over? It was nerve wracking but at the same time, we didn't have any choice. We didn't hear any shifting or feel anything move, so we continued and hoped for the best. Luckily, nothing was damaged in the firing, but we definitely dodged a bullet this time.

This is the piece that fell, mid firing. Our hearts definitely skipped several beats!

Once everything was unloaded, we could see the extent of the damage. The large fire brick we had used for the bottom had cracked and broken nearest to the flame and firebox, and with over 30 firings in this kiln, had finally given way. Luckily none of the other floor pieces were damaged, and we managed to hammer and chisel the piece out.

All the heat and temperature changes finally took their toll.

After removing all the pieces of the floor, we could assess the damage and see just how badly it had become.

We are also lucky in the sense that because of the manner in which we built the kiln, we were able to remove the bricks above the floor, piece by piece, without having to worry about the entire walls or arch coming down. This means that with the extra new bricks we've picked up, we can slide one back into place without too much hassle.

Take the bricks out so we can slide a new piece in

This was a very powerful reminder of the fickle nature of wood firings and older forms of pottery, and how even though we're going back to the basics, things can definitely go wrong. We will definitely be keeping a much closer eye on the state of the kiln going forward and make sure she's not falling apart on us.

~Peter

Studio Tour this weekend!

September 25, 2014

In the past week my father and I have crammed in more work than we can ever remember! Two wood firings, back to back, over just 6 days, and we hope we're ready for this weekends Norfolk Studio Tour! We'll be open all weekend and welcome everyone to come see the fruits of our labor, enjoy some snacks and also visit the many other wonderful artists in the Norfolk area :) We have a lot of new work and we will be opening the second firing on Saturday :) You can find all the information for the studio tour here, as well as see the other artists participating: http://www.norfolkstudiotour.com/

Click on the map for a larger image, we're number 4 :)

To show just how much we've done, here are some pictures of our pieces as we prepared for the firings :) Hope to see some of you this Saturday and Sunday!