Monday, May 17, 2010

What's Smaller Than a Forest Fire, but Bigger Than a Camp Fire?

A wood fire workshop... and it was a huge success! We had 9 folks out of 15 but that's ok, it was plenty-a-hoppin' as it was. We first went over wood fire friendly glazes and applied them in very "imaginative" combinations... those artist types.  ;-]   Then I showed them how I use a "folded up in quarters, terry cloth towel" for wiping the bottoms in place of waxing. You can see that on the glazing picture from overhead. 



 Then onto wadding. I use 1/3 coarse sawdust, 1/3 cut-up straw and 1/3 Hawthorn 80 fireclay.  I use quick set wood workers glue (like yellow Elmers) and I don't need to worry about them when loading.  There's a post (tick ...tock...) about making wads a few days ago. 



We had an introduction to the kiln and firing overview, then loaded. I explained how you want to think about position/placement, ash... and the flame. Then we talked about cone packs and  zones in the kiln.



I answered general questions for a while. Everyone was so interested in learning all they could about all aspects of the wood fire process.  It was a blast. Dave is not in this last picture, he's holding the camera.




Thanks Dave!




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