mel jacobson on thu 10 apr 08
fun idea.
we will enjoy seeing your results.
i think i am right, as i have seen some
hill kilns from many centuries back. japan
clay was mined on a hillside. it became a cave.
small entrance, and a stack hole punched up to the
surface. the mine hole became the kiln...and of course
the inside of the cave was clay. it fired hard inside.
after years, the thickness of the cave wall was increased.
a couple of friends in kyoto maintained that the kilns
were used to make early bricks. the potters did not
like hauling the pots up to the cave kiln. it accounts
for early brick kilns. same idea, only next to the pottery.
i have seen the actual kilns...as they became giant pots.
they are on display in serval locations in kyoto.
there are some old folk tales about children being
lowered into the cave to stack brick or pots.
if they were naughty children they got fired with the
pots.
i built a small hill kiln at the farm. used kiln shelves as
a roof over old fire bricks. covered the top with
soil, clay. left a small opening for a stack.
used two burners up front...it was a basic mn flat top.
it worked, but far too small for any serious work.
just the fun of making another odd kiln.
i helped a woman via clayart/net, build a hill kiln on the orkney
islands/Great Britain. she lived in a rich clay area. she dug
the hillside out...used the kiln shelf roof idea and fired to cone
06. it worked like a charm. as i told her, she could have fired
that kiln to o6 with newspaper. being a conservationist, she did
roll up paper and added it to her fire. as i remember, she used
one propane burner and one port with wood and paper.
mel
mel
from minnetonka:
website http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart site:
http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
gary navarre on thu 10 apr 08
Thanks for reminding me mell, I did a quite similar
kiln for a two week workshop in 1990 with some special
kids in Allegan, Michigan using the trench design some
Alfred students are firing in the back of Danial
Rhodes kiln book. I only needed to get to ^06-^04.
Used soda and oxide mixed with the low-fire clay.
Looks like those Alfred students got to ^9-10. We had
great results too.
--- mel jacobson wrote:
> i built a small hill kiln at the farm. used kiln
> shelves as
> a roof over old fire bricks. covered the top with
> soil, clay. left a small opening for a stack.
> used two burners up front...it was a basic mn flat
> top.
> it worked, but far too small for any serious work.
> just the fun of making another odd kiln.
>
> i helped a woman via clayart/net, build a hill kiln
> on the orkney
> islands/Great Britain. she lived in a rich clay
> area. she dug
> the hillside out...used the kiln shelf roof idea and
> fired to cone
> 06. it worked like a charm.
I have a VCR someone gave me of part of the kiln but
the wind in the sound really sucks. What I need is a
professional to clean it up and make it digital so I
can post it on youtube. I wonder what would happen if
I stuck a Hobbed Bourry firebox on the end of a trench
kiln. Might make a decent test kiln or maybe something
seriously cool would come of it. Just because it ain't
a big kiln doesn't mean it can't produce serious work
when in the hands of a master. Those kids got some
serious learning done and I got some serious (beer)
money, worked out great, look where it got me, so stay
in there eh!
Gary Navarre
Navarre Pottery
Navarre Enterprises
Norway, Michigan, USA
http://public.fotki.com/GindaUP/
http://www.youtube.com/GindaUP
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