Timothy Joko-Veltman on thu 21 aug 08
Does anyone make the original anagama (hole/cave in a hillside)
anymore? I can't find anything on Google except the above ground,
bricked-in kind. I have a perfect location to dig one, and am looking
for advice/tips/tricks (and how to keep the hill from falling in on me
while I'm inside).
Tim
W J Seidl on thu 21 aug 08
Tim:
Unless you're skilled at the shoring and blocking systems used by miners,
or you're chipping through solid rock, your best course of action might
well be
to dig a trench roughly the width of the anagama. Dig it as deep and
long as you need.
Then, construct the anagama and backfill it afterward.
Still, if your walls on either side of your trench are more than 5 feet
high and mostly vertical, you may want to consider
shoring them as well while under construction. Even the most "solid" of
trench walls has been
known to give way suddenly for any number of reasons....vibration,
moisture, unstable substrates...
Construction crews here use heavy (2 inch thick) steel plates connected
parallel to each other
by immense welded steel "I" beams when working in trenches over 4 feet
in depth. They require a crane to place in
the trench. But those trenches are vertically walled, dug by
excavators. You could slope your walls as you dig,
pretty much eliminating the problem, provided you have the room on the
sides to allow a more gentle slope...
and pray it doesn't rain too hard during construction.
For shoring, creating a rectangular "cube" of something like a 4X4
material, and covering the sides (and perhaps the top?)
with 3/4 plywood framed by additional 4X4s should yield decent results
but I would strongly suggest further research first.
I imagine being buried alive is no fun.
Be safe. It's worth the extra time to save your life. While dying for
one's art is perhaps fashionable, it's no fun for the artist.
Best,
Wayne Seidl
Timothy Joko-Veltman wrote:
> Does anyone make the original anagama (hole/cave in a hillside)
> anymore? I can't find anything on Google except the above ground,
> bricked-in kind. I have a perfect location to dig one, and am looking
> for advice/tips/tricks (and how to keep the hill from falling in on me
> while I'm inside).
>
> Tim
>
>
Hollis on thu 21 aug 08
Hi, Tim.
You might look in the Ceramics Monthly archives. Seems to me they had a
piece on that kind of hillside anagama maybe 15 years ago.
Hollis Engley
Hatchville Pottery
E. Falmouth, MA
hatchvillepottery.com
On Aug 21, 2008, at 7:47 AM, Timothy Joko-Veltman wrote:
> Does anyone make the original anagama (hole/cave in a hillside)
> anymore? I can't find anything on Google except the above ground,
> bricked-in kind. I have a perfect location to dig one, and am looking
> for advice/tips/tricks (and how to keep the hill from falling in on me
> while I'm inside).
>
> Tim
>
Frank Gaydos on thu 21 aug 08
Tim,
I think an old issue of Studio Potter has the building of the Peeters Valley
Anagama.
I'm pretty sure you open the top of the kiln in the hill to place your
bricks over a wooden arch support, then back fill. That way you have
insulation, and support and will not lose heat to the dirt.
I would discourage digging a cave.
Frank
----- Original Message -----
From: "Timothy Joko-Veltman"
To:
Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2008 7:47 AM
Subject: [CLAYART] Old Style Anagama
> Does anyone make the original anagama (hole/cave in a hillside)
> anymore? I can't find anything on Google except the above ground,
> bricked-in kind. I have a perfect location to dig one, and am looking
> for advice/tips/tricks (and how to keep the hill from falling in on me
> while I'm inside).
>
> Tim
>
>
>
>
> E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (5.5.1.322)
> Database version: 5.10520e
> http://www.pctools.com/en/spyware-doctor/
Tony Ferguson on thu 21 aug 08
Tim,
There are reasons the anagama and than naborigama evolved from its Ogama state:
1. difficulty in controlling the fire
2. uneven results/temperature variation
3. risk of or eventual cave in.
I think your idea is great, and please be careful if you proceed.
Tony Ferguson
Timothy Joko-Veltman wrote: Does anyone make the original anagama (hole/cave in a hillside)
anymore? I can't find anything on Google except the above ground,
bricked-in kind. I have a perfect location to dig one, and am looking
for advice/tips/tricks (and how to keep the hill from falling in on me
while I'm inside).
Tim
Take Care,
Tony Ferguson
...where the sky meets the lake...
http://www.tonyferguson.net
jonathan byler on thu 21 aug 08
the big problem with the in the hill kind is that they absorb and
hold lots of moisture from the surrounding earth and tend to use a
lot of wood per firing. If I were building one of these, I would
want a good base of sand followed by gravel in order to help with
drainage and to keep moisture down. The possible time saved by
digging out and using the earth as the form would be lost in time
needed to stoke the kiln over a few firings.
There is good reason that some old practices are abandoned for new ones.
jon byler
3-D Building Coordinator
Art Department
Auburn University, AL 36849
On Aug 21, 2008, at 6:47 AM, Timothy Joko-Veltman wrote:
> Does anyone make the original anagama (hole/cave in a hillside)
> anymore? I can't find anything on Google except the above ground,
> bricked-in kind. I have a perfect location to dig one, and am looking
> for advice/tips/tricks (and how to keep the hill from falling in on me
> while I'm inside).
>
> Tim
Jeff Guin on fri 22 aug 08
I once heard of a "coffin Kiln." This always seemed like a mini anagama to =
me. It is definately a hillside kiln. Basically it is a trench dug in the h=
illside about the length of a coffin. Pots are loaded from the top and the =
kiln roof is covered with kiln shelfs. Has anyone else heard of this?
Jeff Guin
Coon Valley=2C WIhttp://mudwerks.blogspot.comhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/m=
udhead99/> Date: Thu=2C 21 Aug 2008 08:47:17 -0300> From: ceramista.tim@GMA=
IL.COM> Subject: Old Style Anagama> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG> > Does an=
yone make the original anagama (hole/cave in a hillside)> anymore? I can't =
find anything on Google except the above ground=2C> bricked-in kind. I have=
a perfect location to dig one=2C and am looking> for advice/tips/tricks (a=
nd how to keep the hill from falling in on me> while I'm inside).> > Tim
_________________________________________________________________
Get ideas on sharing photos from people like you. Find new ways to share.
http://www.windowslive.com/explore/photogallery/posts?ocid=3DTXT_TAGLM_WL_P=
hoto_Gallery_082008=
Steve Mills on fri 22 aug 08
Tim=20
Over here in the UK I've built a=A0 couple of Trench Kilns; same principal =
but smaller and shallower.
The problem we had was with the sides, which despite being fired to cone 10=
plus tended to disintegrate inwards onto the wares.=20
So either the ground in which you're digging needs to be solid clay, or you=
need to plaster the walls several inches thick with clay, sand, and someth=
ing like chopped straw as a binder, or brick it up!
Having built kilns out of the second of those alternatives I would opt for =
that, but it would need to be about 5+ inches thick.
Good luck
Steve
Bath
UK
Timothy Joko-Veltman wrote:
> Does anyone make the original anagama (hole/cave in a hillside)
> anymore? I can't find anything on Google except the above ground,
> bricked-in kind. I have a perfect location to dig one, and am looking
> for advice/tips/tricks (and how to keep the hill from falling in on me
> while I'm inside).
>
> Tim
>
>
=0A=0A=0A
Eva Gallagher on fri 22 aug 08
Hi - there is a diagram and pictures of this is the book Kilns - Design,
Construction and Operation by Rhodes. It is callled a wood burning trench
kiln. It is narrower and longer - 12 - 16 feet. At one point I was going to
build one as I had the perfect hill, however in the spring it becomes a
steady stream of water so figured it would get all washed out. So built a
regular train kiln on a flatter area halfway down the hill - now the water
just swirls around the concrete blocks in the spring on its was down the
hill.
Eva Gallagher
Deep River, Ontario
http://stephenhilljourneyworkshopjuly2008.blogspot.com/
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Guin"
To:
Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 4:58 AM
Subject: Re: Old Style Anagama
I once heard of a "coffin Kiln." This always seemed like a mini anagama to
me. It is definately a hillside kiln. Basically it is a trench dug in the
hillside about the length of a coffin. Pots are loaded from the top and the
kiln roof is covered with kiln shelfs. Has anyone else heard of this?
Jeff Guin
Coon Valley,
WIhttp://mudwerks.blogspot.comhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/mudhead99/> Date:
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:47:17 -0300> From: ceramista.tim@GMAIL.COM> Subject: Old
Style Anagama> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG> > Does anyone make the original
anagama (hole/cave in a hillside)> anymore? I can't find anything on Google
except the above ground,> bricked-in kind. I have a perfect location to dig
one, and am looking> for advice/tips/tricks (and how to keep the hill from
falling in on me> while I'm inside).> > Tim
_________________________________________________________________
Get ideas on sharing photos from people like you. Find new ways to share.
http://www.windowslive.com/explore/photogallery/posts?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Photo_Gallery_082008
Tony Ferguson on fri 22 aug 08
Folks,
What the gentleman meant was he wanted to dig a hole like the very first anagama which were called an ogama. There are diagrams of what this looked like in a Shino book I have which of course I can't find at the moment--I also did presentations on this for some of the courses I taught. They were one large hole dug in clay deposits (not a trench, not sandy soil, not regular earth) with the front being lower then the end (pseudo stack).
This was the first psuedo anagama kiln--an enormous hole dug out of clay. They had sections of the kiln that had clay from the ceiling to the floor--column like to support the chamber They were dug in clay so that when fired, it was one large fired somewhat supported shape/hole. In my earlier post, I mentioned why they changed and the in ground ogama evolved into an above ground form of the same style except made from brick that we now know as the anagama. And of course, the Japanese being as industrious as they always are, evolved the anagama to the Naborigama--because it was much more efficient (Not easier to fire), with each previous chamber heating the next, offering multi-chambers for a variety of effects, salt, etc.
Tony Ferguson
Take Care,
Tony Ferguson
...where the sky meets the lake...
http://www.tonyferguson.net
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