Karen Sullivan on fri 10 may 02
So for my caveat about the difference in materials and
equipment...here goes...
In an Olsen kiln...my firing schedule was
reduction at cone 1, cone 5 for about 5 minutes each.
Fired so cone 11 was at 3'o'clock....
In my Halvorsen kiln, if I missed an early body reduction
my stoneware looked yellow...So I would do a body reduction
at cone 010...there about...for 10-15 minutes...
Then 5-10 minutes each at cone 1 and 5.
The wisdom I was given was that short, quick reduction
was better than long...dirty...hard reduction.
At NCECA a few years ago, Pete Pinnell had said
that heavy reduction was like trying to push a basketball
through a window screen. With the comment that it is an
ever shrinking window screen. That refers to the development
of the clay structure becoming dense/crystal/glass like.
So for body reduction you want to influence the clay while
it is still open...at cone 1 vitrification begins and
the window screen metaphor applies.
So now, I am firing an ancient Nordstrom kiln...and
the previous rules don't work. So I put the kiln into
light reduction for the duration of the firing and am
finally getting decent results.
The wisdom from the above...I scramble to understand
the basic principles of science and fire and then adapt to
the equipment and materials.
My constant is the position of the cone to turn off the kiln.
And I go with the hottest portion of the kiln to signal the end.
The other rules is that curiosity and trial and error work
best of all.
bamboo karen
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