Craig Edwards on wed 3 dec 03
Hello All: Here are some photos of my last kiln loading, firing and
some pots from the firing. The pots are a mix of mine and my friend
Svend Bayer. We had a two month work cycle to make and fire. The fire
was six days(131 hours). Most of the work relied on the fly ash to
glaze it, although there were some shino and celedon glazed pots. The
Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis has most of the pots from the firing
on exihibit if anyone is in that neck of the woods and would care to see
them.
I used the photo site that Lee suggested, photobucket.com. Thanks Lee!
It made life easier.
http://volcano.photobucket.com/albums/v11/credwards/
Cheers
Craig Edwards
New London MN
Lee Love on thu 4 dec 03
Great looking pots Craig! Some might fine haicaberi (fly ash!) How is
the show at NCC going? Do you have any photos of your pots out of the
firing?
--
Lee In Mashiko, Japan
http://Mashiko.org
Web Log (click on recent date):
http://www.livejournal.com/users/togeika/calendar
Craig Edwards on thu 4 dec 03
Thanks Lee. Yeah we were furtunate to get a good ash buildup I think
if we would have fired longer we would have glued things together. The
show at NCC is going great, the pots are well received and selling
well.! The pots in photos 4-7 ( teapot, wave, jar)are mine. Still need
to get to Peter Lee for slides, so these feeble attempts are all I have now.
When are you firing next? Next time you are in Minnesota we will have
to do a firing together. It's been awhile now!
Cheers,
Craig
New London MN
Lee Love wrote:
>Great looking pots Craig! Some might fine haicaberi (fly ash!) How is
>the show at NCC going? Do you have any photos of your pots out of the
>firing?
>
>--
>Lee In Mashiko, Japan
>http://Mashiko.org
>Web Log (click on recent date):
>http://www.livejournal.com/users/togeika/calendar
>
>
>
>
Earl Krueger on sat 6 dec 03
On Wednesday, Dec 3, 2003, at 16:20 US/Pacific, Craig Edwards wrote:
> We had a two month work cycle to make and fire. The fire
> was six days(131 hours). Most of the work relied on the fly ash to
> glaze it,
OK, this prompts me to ask the question I've wondered about.
How do people who fire large wood burning kilns, maybe 2 or 3 times a
year, ever learn how to do it with any kind of repeatability or
control? The weather will be different. The wood will be different.
The pots will be different. The memory will have faded and notes can
only bring back so much.
Mastering wood firing seems like a daunting task to me!
Or do you just have to have masochistic tendencies to get into this
game? ;-)
Earl...
Bothell, WA, USA
Paul Herman on sat 6 dec 03
Hello Earl,
I'll comment below:
----------
>From: Earl Krueger
> OK, this prompts me to ask the question I've wondered about.
>
> How do people who fire large wood burning kilns, maybe 2 or 3 times a
> year, ever learn how to do it with any kind of repeatability or
> control?
I'm not trying for absolute control or repetition. You really have to
pay attention, and organise your tests well in advance. I have 6 months
between firings. Look closely for patterns and tendancies, and try to
take advantage of them. I think about it all the time.
>The weather will be different. The wood will be different.
The weather certainly can affect a firing, wet conditions cause more
reduction. Speaking of which, it's raining like a cow peeing on a flat
rock right now. Our last firing, in October, the wind came up big time
on the last day. It blew from all points of the compass during that day.
The kiln did fine, because we have a big fat chimney that can power it
on through. My advice: Build a big fat chimney. The wood, well you CAN
influence that. Wood isn't just wood, any more than clay is just clay.
Gotta choose the wood with care, cut and dry it properly.
> The pots will be different. The memory will have faded and notes can
> only bring back so much.
Notes? Huh! I tried to take notes, but it just doesn't work for me. In
the midst of a firing, writing things down is the furthest thing from my
mind. I do have certain theories about how build the setting, and how
to stoke. It's all in my head. (uh-oh)
> Mastering wood firing seems like a daunting task to me!
Mastering? Hmmmm, brazen, aren't you? It'll teach you about humility. I
don't think you'll have much luck trying to master it, more possibly in
a collaboration. It's not something you can wrestle to the ground and
beat senseless. Learning about it is daunting for sure, but one hell of
a lot of fun!
> Or do you just have to have masochistic tendencies to get into this
> game? ;-)
>Earl...
>Bothell, WA, USA
Well, I don't think it's necessary, but probably couldn't hurt.
Oooohhhh, Anagama Baby, you beat me so good....
Grand feu,
Paul Herman
Great Basin Pottery
423-725 Scott Road
Doyle, California 96109 US
potter@psln.com
Lee Love on sun 7 dec 03
----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Edwards"
> Thanks Lee. Yeah we were furtunate to get a good ash buildup
> I think if we would have fired longer we would have glued
>things together.
Haha! There is no pyromaniac like a wood firer!
>The
> show at NCC is going great, the pots are well received and selling
> well.! The pots in photos 4-7 ( teapot, wave, jar)are mine. Still need
> to get to Peter Lee for slides, so these feeble attempts are all I have
now.
I thought the teapot looked like your work. And that sculpture
is stunning.
> When are you firing next?
Maybe in two or three weeks. We just got back with a load of
wood from our friends who are grape growers. I've been using this wood
in the begining of the firing: it is wet and goes slowly for the initial
warmup. I have parts of the trunk of a 40 year old grape vine that is
33cms in diameter. This is very dense wood. I like burning it in the
workshop wood stove, because it smells sweet when it burns.
>Next time you are in Minnesota we will have
> to do a firing together. It's been awhile now!
I'd like to do that. I remember the last time we fired together.
It was the first time Svend Bayer saw the Northern Lights. It was pretty
spectacular.
--
Lee In Mashiko, Japan
http://Mashiko.org
Web Log (click on recent date):
http://www.livejournal.com/users/togeika/calendar
Craig Edwards on sun 7 dec 03
Earl Krueger wrote:
>
> OK, this prompts me to ask the question I've wondered about.
>
> How do people who fire large wood burning kilns, maybe 2 or 3 times a
> year, ever learn how to do it with any kind of repeatability or
> control? The weather will be different. The wood will be different.
> The pots will be different. The memory will have faded and notes can
> only bring back so much.
>
> Mastering wood firing seems like a daunting task to me!
> Or do you just have to have masochistic tendencies to get into this
> game? ;-)
>
> Earl...
> Bothell, WA, USA
> Hello Earl;
I'll see if I can throw in a few comments also. I have to agree with
everything that Paul has written. It is a daunting task to fire a large
wood burning kiln. The organization of the wood, and people is challenging.
The process of firing is intense, you use most all of your senses and
intellect to guide the kiln to do what you what it to, most of the time
it is a dialog between you and the kiln. You tell it what you want it to
do, and it tells you what it will do.Your daily routine, becomes the
routine of the kiln, It is not a lesson that is easily forgotten.
I have to agree with Paul that there isn't a day that goo's by that I
don't think about the last firing and use it to relate to the next
firing. Repetition is not the goal by any means. The goal is evolution
and discovery. To assimilate what the process has to show you., and then
put it back into your work. The work that is produced has as much to do
with the kiln and the situation at the time as with what I have in mind.
In a sense it is letting nature have a greater role in what's produced.
It can be a very humbling experience. You realize that you don't know
much, and most of what you do know is wrong. This realization however
opens you up to the possibility of learning an incredible amount. I am
somehow a changed person after a firing. My pots are changed in some
mystical way.
Emotionally there are the blues after a firing. It is the end of a great
adventure. The death of a part of your life. There is nothing you can do
to change the outcome, it's over. The best I can do is start looking at
the next firing on the horizon, and the anticipation and sense of
adventure starts to come back.
Thanks for the query Earl. It helped me clarify some things that have
been rattling around in my head, and get off my sorry ass and get on
with the next firing.
Cheers,
Craig Edwards
New London MN
Sue Leabu on mon 8 dec 03
On Sun, 7 Dec 2003 11:22:19 -0600, Craig Edwards
wrote:
>It can be a very humbling experience. You realize that you don't know
>much, and most of what you do know is wrong. This realization however
>opens you up to the possibility of learning an incredible amount. I am
>somehow a changed person after a firing. My pots are changed in some
>mystical way.
>Emotionally there are the blues after a firing. It is the end of a great
>adventure. The death of a part of your life. There is nothing you can do
>to change the outcome, it's over. The best I can do is start looking at
>the next firing on the horizon, and the anticipation and sense of
>adventure starts to come back.
Boy, Craig, you really hit the nail! Especially the "blues" part. After the
first firing I was involved in three years ago, the week of cool down was
like some kind of withdrawal. I wasn't prepared for the abruptness to the
ending of the fire-off, and guess I didn't realize that I had pretty
effectively, and somewhat unconciously, blocked out most of the rest of
life during firing week. It's gotten easier to deal with since that first
firing, but I still always try to have the day after fire-off to just vege
and recover, physically and emotionally. Then the anticipation of the
unloading takes over after a couple days, and somehow, life
becomes "normal" again. Until the next time, that is. :o)
Sue
Kalamazoo, MI
| |
|
