Anagama: Day 2 firing

Overnight shift

Mmmm... red...firey...

There is a term in ceramics when you fire called "tumbled stacking" where you wad the pots so that they sit on one another in a random pattern. It's often used in wood and atmospheric firings for flashing effects. We tumble stacked pots in this anagama firing and the kiln, well, it loved it so much it decided to tumble stack some extra pots for us. Yes, something shifted on a top shelf and the kiln, she don't look like she used to. Unfortunately, when the kiln is 2100°F there's not much you can do but ride it out and make plans for the new sculpture that's sure to await you upon opening. So we'll see what we get. Most of it seems to be okay... so far.

Evening crew, students from Morehead and Shift Boss Bill

Sunrise on the new shift crew

Always food. Always. Always full of ash. Always.

I made breakfast this time. 6am, bacon, eggs, orange juice. And brownies. We started at 2145°F and bounced between 2030°F and 2200°F. Cone 9 finally dropped on both sides with a little movement of cone 10 but not much. The plan is to hover here for the next 20 hours and possibly shut the kiln down near noon tomorrow. There is plenty of ash on the pots up front and they looked shiny and slick so it'll be interesting to see how things turn out. We'll wait about a week to open the kiln.

Jeff Enge of Tater Knob Pottery contemplating his next move.

Stoke that flame!

We drifted from here to a little above 2200°F according to the pyrometer

Overlapping shift crews. It was cold in the am and only in the mid 40's by midday.
Barely noticeable with a raging kiln in front of you.

New crew at the beginning of the shift. Aw! Look how clean and bright-eyed!