Kiln Firings
We do three kiln firings a year, which are then followed by Open Houses. These kiln firings are the culmination of months of work, as each one contains about two tons of pottery that are carefully placed in the kiln in their greenware state. It takes roughly ten days to load the kiln and three days to fire it. This is where the final characteristics of wood fired pots come into being.
The firing begins slowly as to not cause damage to the unfired works. This is where the alchemy happens, and this is what wood firing potters love. Where wood ash turns into glass around 2,200 degrees, and pigments and glazes become embedded into each pot.
Over the three day period the fire changes drastically in its intensity. First, the fire is intentionally slow and lazy, then it rises to a white hot fire whose temperatures max out around 2,400 degrees. The firing then collimates with a final stoke before the kiln is clammed up with the raging fire inside.