Firing Log

Download the Eighth Firing Podcast directly or through iTunes (mp3, 56:45, 42mb).

Note: The iTunes link requires iTunes to be installed on your computer. If you do not have iTunes, use the “direct “link — it is probably most convenient to right click the link, choose “save as” from the context menu, and then listen to the file in your preferred player after it has downloaded.

I wrapped up my eighth anagama firing in the early hours of Dec. 23rd. The kiln is still sealed and I am (im)patiently waiting for Saturday to open it up. During the firing, I made some recordings of what I was doing or thinking. The purpose was twofold: 1) In the future, I will be able to listen to all my wrong thoughts — perhaps with a sense of nostalgia. 2) I knew that post-firing, I would need some kind of project to help me keep my grubby mitts off the kiln door. So far, the editing task has worked quite well, although I also built a light tent in the meantime for taking better pictures of pottery.

Some basic data points: I lit the gas burner around 9:00 pm on Dec. 17, started with the wood about 24 hours later, stopped firing about 10:30 pm on Dec. 22, and had the kiln sealed up by 1:50 am on Dec. 23. The kiln consumed about 3.5 cords of wood during the firing. From 5:00 am, Dec. 18 through 2:00 am, Dec 23, I slept 18 out of 117 hours.

I took only a few pictures during the firing, but they can be viewed in the photo album for the eighth firing. As for the pieces — I hope to open the kiln on Saturday. Till then, I’ll spend the time worrying and second guessing.

I’ve been playing around with some gallery software, called plainly enough: gallery. It’s pretty fun but it will take me a while to understand it enough to get it better integrated into my website. Regardless, I’ve uploaded a much expanded photogallery from the last firing.

It does have some quirks. For example, it seems that the comments for each photo are hidden unless you click the little up arrow in the bottom left corner of the screen when looking at the large size photo. Everything else seems fairly self-explanatory with forward and back buttons below the pictures which do as one would expect.

Last thing, I still need to photograph the twice fired piece I mentioned in a comment to the previous 7th firing post. I still plan on doing that … but not today. That will have to wait till after I clean up after yesterday’s windstorm — 82 mph (132 kph) gusts. Sustained winds were 30-40 mph (48 – 72 kph) all day long. It was wild!