Steve Irvine on tue 29 nov 05
Hi Lee,
That looks like a really well designed kiln -- makes sense. And very nicely constructed too.
I have a couple of questions. Are you able to do the whole firing yourself, or do you have some
friends help out? Do you fire all through the year? The potters in Bizen told me that they didn't fire
in the summers because it was too hot. Do you have any photos of a firing underway?
Thanks for sharing the plans and construction photos.
Steve
http://www.steveirvine.com
On Wed, 30 Nov 2005 06:10:25 +0900, Lee Love wrote:
>What I fire is easier to fire (both fireboxes on the same side) and gets
>more "wood firing effects." I fire about 17 hours.
>
>Plans and photos of building here: http://public.fotki.com/togeika/my_kiln/
Steve Irvine on wed 30 nov 05
Thanks for the firing photo Lee. I can get a better sense of the amount of space above the grate
from that angle. It also answers my follow-up question about what kind of wood you use.
Steve
http://www.steveirvine.com
On Thu, 1 Dec 2005 08:55:24 +0900, Lee Love wrote:
>STEVE, I have a photo of me firing the kiln in this pdf brochure:
>
>http://www.archive.org/download/Ikiru_Pottery_Brochure_Front/FrontIkiruTrifold.pdf
>http://www.archive.org/download/Ikiru_Brochure_PDF_Back/BackIkiruTrifoldb.pdf
Lee Love on wed 30 nov 05
On 2005/11/30 12:19:57, clayart@steveirvine.com wrote:
> That looks like a really well designed kiln -- makes sense. And very
> nicely constructed too.
It is Euan Craig's design. I believe an instructor of his in Bendigo,
OZ, studied with someone in England, maybe Casson (I have to talk to
Euan to get this straight) who had a small woodkiln, an brought a
similar design back to Bendigo. Euan combined elements of the english
kiln with Olsen's and came up with this. Euan's first woodkiln was an
Olsen.
> I have a couple of questions. Are you able to do the whole firing
yourself,
> or do you have some friends help out?
I have always fire by myself, except for Jean feeding me and forcing
fluids, and of course, keeping me company at the end, when I am "In the
Zone." Firing by yourself is like a solitary meditation retreat. This
kiln is surprisingly quiet. If I start at 7AM, I finish by midnight.
Actually, if you put a rocker between the kiln and your 400kgs of wood,
you can fire without ever leaving the chair, except to check the cones.
(There is even a passive damper in the front of the kiln, because the
flue runs down the middle.
There are some changes I would make, including putting the kiln up on
cement blocks, with a short porch on the front. I have stoke ports at
the back walls on the side, that I plan to put oil drip burners in
someday, to try Hanks cooldown and hold. You can't do this with wood,
because you would be depositing unmelted ash at a cool temp.
> Do you fire all through the year? The potters in Bizen
> told me that they didn't fire
> in the summers because it was too hot. Do you have any photos of a
firing underway?
Yes, I fire throughout the year. It does not get very hot at the
firemouths. You wear gloves more for splinters than the heat. The air
flow keeps it cool. While firing, the door keeps pretty cool. But the
moment you close it up and the air stops flowing, the door side feels
hotter. The door is all hardbrick. I am thinking about making a small
insert to finish the top of the door with, to speed up closing the door.
--
李 Lee Love 大
愛 鱗
in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://seisokuro.blogspot.com/ My Photo Logs
http://ikiru.blogspot.com/ Zen and Craft
"The way we are, we are members of each other. All of us. Everything.
The difference ain't in who is a member and who is not, but in who knows
it and who don't."
--Burley Coulter (Wendell Berry)
Lee Love on wed 30 nov 05
On 2005/11/30 12:19:57, clayart@steveirvine.com wrote:
> That looks like a really well designed kiln -- makes sense. And very
> nicely constructed too.
It is Euan Craig's design. I believe an instructor of his in Bendigo,
OZ, studied with someone in England, maybe Casson (I have to talk to
Euan to get this straight) who had a small woodkiln, an brought a
similar design back to Bendigo. Euan combined elements of the english
kiln with Olsen's and came up with this. Euan's first woodkiln was an
Olsen.
> I have a couple of questions. Are you able to do the whole firing
yourself,
> or do you have some friends help out?
I have always fire by myself, except for Jean feeding me and forcing
fluids, and of course, keeping me company at the end, when I am "In the
Zone." Firing by yourself is like a solitary meditation retreat. This
kiln is surprisingly quiet. If I start at 7AM, I finish by midnight.
Actually, if you put a rocker between the kiln and your 400kgs of wood,
you can fire without ever leaving the chair, except to check the cones.
(There is even a passive damper in the front of the kiln, because the
flue runs down the middle.
There are some changes I would make, including putting the kiln up on
cement blocks, with a short porch on the front. I have stoke ports at
the back walls on the side, that I plan to put oil drip burners in
someday, to try Hanks cooldown and hold. You can't do this with wood,
because you would be depositing unmelted ash at a cool temp.
> Do you fire all through the year? The potters in Bizen
> told me that they didn't fire
> in the summers because it was too hot. Do you have any photos of a
firing underway?
Yes, I fire throughout the year. It does not get very hot at the
firemouths. You wear gloves more for splinters than the heat. The air
flow keeps it cool. While firing, the door keeps pretty cool. But the
moment you close it up and the air stops flowing, the door side feels
hotter. The door is all hardbrick. I am thinking about making a small
insert to finish the top of the door with, to speed up closing the door.
--
李 Lee Love 大
愛 鱗
in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://seisokuro.blogspot.com/ My Photo Logs
http://ikiru.blogspot.com/ Zen and Craft
"The way we are, we are members of each other. All of us. Everything.
The difference ain't in who is a member and who is not, but in who knows
it and who don't."
--Burley Coulter (Wendell Berry)
clennell on wed 30 nov 05
Lee wrote:
> It is Euan Craig's design. I believe an instructor of his in Bendigo,
> OZ, studied with someone in England, maybe Casson (I have to talk to
> Euan to get this straight) who had a small woodkiln, an brought a
> similar design back to Bendigo. Euan combined elements of the english
> kiln with Olsen's and came up with this. Euan's first woodkiln was an
> Olsen.
LEE: I think the fastfire wood kiln with firboxes on the one side if from
England could have been the brain child of Andrew McGarva--Mick Cassons son
in law. Andrew designed and built Micks two chamber fast fire wood kiln- the
first chamber was fired like yours and the second chamber had fireboxes on
either side of the chimney.
Andrew is an interesting dude. I would say a force much like Svend Bayer. He
and Claire now have a studio in France. During my time at Wobage Farm he had
three people pack and leave, one in tears. He collected the work, wheels and
equipment of movers of clay. Andrew, Claire Casson and I would go to the
pub at night and I would listen to his stories and love of these clay
giants. Issac Button, Reg Harris and George Curtis to name a few. These were
men that could fill an arena with pots each day and go home for steak and
kidney pie and a pint.
When I watched Reg Harris throw at Wrexelsham he was throwing eaves troughs-
a tall cylinder cut in half. Shingles and down spots for the eaves were also
thrown. These guys averaged a ton of clay per day. Their philosophy would be
pretty basic- make a living. This age is now dead except perhaps in some of
the southern flower pot shops (the Hewells of Georgia) and the potter's with
egos are the only ones left.
I highly recommend Andrew's book- Country Pottery Tradional Earthenware of
Britain. It is a tribute to working potters. This is not a book that
celebrates the ceramic penis or the philosophy of Walden Pond.
Cheers,
Tony
Tony and Sheila Clennell
Sour Cherry Pottery
4545 King Street
Beamsville, Ontario
CANADA L0R 1B1
http://www.sourcherrypottery.com
http://www.sourcherrypottery.com/current_news/news_letter.html
BJ Clark | Stinking Desert Ceramics on wed 30 nov 05
I really like Lee's kiln too! It looks like the perfect size/design, howeve=
r
I'm thinking about using a cantenary arch instead of a cube/sprung. Sort o=
f
a hybrid of Lee's and one of Ol' Janet Mansfield's (the one in Roger's Salt
Glaze book). I'd love to see pic of that two chamber fast fire though.
Thanks to Lee for sharing his pics from me too. Seems like there's not much
info about fast fire's on the net and in the day and age of gas doubling in
price every time the temp drops below 32 degrees, wood fueled kilns are
looking better and better.
1 Ton of clay a day. Amazing.
BJ Clark
Stinking Desert Ceramics
On 11/30/05, clennell wrote:
>
> Lee wrote:
>
> > It is Euan Craig's design. I believe an instructor of his in Bendigo,
> > OZ, studied with someone in England, maybe Casson (I have to talk to
> > Euan to get this straight) who had a small woodkiln, an brought a
> > similar design back to Bendigo. Euan combined elements of the english
> > kiln with Olsen's and came up with this. Euan's first woodkiln was an
> > Olsen.
>
> LEE: I think the fastfire wood kiln with firboxes on the one side if from
> England could have been the brain child of Andrew McGarva--Mick Cassons
> son
> in law. Andrew designed and built Micks two chamber fast fire wood kiln-
> the
> first chamber was fired like yours and the second chamber had fireboxes o=
n
> either side of the chimney.
> Andrew is an interesting dude. I would say a force much like Svend Bayer.
> He
> and Claire now have a studio in France. During my time at Wobage Farm he
> had
> three people pack and leave, one in tears. He collected the work, wheels
> and
> equipment of movers of clay. Andrew, Claire Casson and I would go to the
> pub at night and I would listen to his stories and love of these clay
> giants. Issac Button, Reg Harris and George Curtis to name a few. These
> were
> men that could fill an arena with pots each day and go home for steak and
> kidney pie and a pint.
> When I watched Reg Harris throw at Wrexelsham he was throwing eaves
> troughs-
> a tall cylinder cut in half. Shingles and down spots for the eaves were
> also
> thrown. These guys averaged a ton of clay per day. Their philosophy would
> be
> pretty basic- make a living. This age is now dead except perhaps in some
> of
> the southern flower pot shops (the Hewells of Georgia) and the potter's
> with
> egos are the only ones left.
> I highly recommend Andrew's book- Country Pottery Tradional Earthenware o=
f
> Britain. It is a tribute to working potters. This is not a book that
> celebrates the ceramic penis or the philosophy of Walden Pond.
> Cheers,
> Tony
> Tony and Sheila Clennell
> Sour Cherry Pottery
> 4545 King Street
> Beamsville, Ontario
> CANADA L0R 1B1
> http://www.sourcherrypottery.com
> http://www.sourcherrypottery.com/current_news/news_letter.html
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________________=
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>
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>
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> melpots@pclink.com.
>
--
BJ Clark
Stinking Desert Ceramics
bjclark@stinkingdesert.com
www.stinkingdesert.com
Lee Love on thu 1 dec 05
On 2005/12/01 3:42:31, clennell@sympatico.ca wrote:
> LEE: I think the fastfire wood kiln with firboxes on the one side if
from
> England could have been the brain child of Andrew McGarva--Mick
Cassons son
> in law.
That makes a lot of sense. I will check with Euan.
> Andrew is an interesting dude. I would say a force much like Svend Bayer.
Could there be more than one? Hanging out with Svend, I know he
appreciates philosophy related to "Walden Pond". Like Cardew said about
him, "He is a not a man, he is a force of nature." Someday, I would like
to "bring coal to Newcastle." I could think of nothing more enjoyable
than having a Svend Bayer kiln building workshop in Mashiko. I will have
to talk to Craig Edwards about that, when he is in Mashiko in June.
Maybe Furuki will be ready for a new kiln by then?
> I highly recommend Andrew's book- Country Pottery Tradional Earthenware of
> Britain. It is a tribute to working potters. This is not a book that
> celebrates the ceramic penis or the philosophy of Walden Pond.
Most of the effigies of the penis here in Japan are done in stone, not
clay. Early Jomon fertility objects made of clay primarily related to
symbolic images, like the Venus figurine, all related to women. Makes
sense because women made the pots back then.
We don't understand Walden Pond the same way. You seem to think it means
a lack of industry. It is exactly the opposite. Half of is is about
being self sufficient and is why in the early '80s, I moved out to the
woods and I lived in a Souix TiPi. Traded my color T.V. for a chainsaw.
The other half is about re-integration with nature and not simply seeing
it as a resource. It is also about the freedom of not being controlled
by the race-race and other peoples' expectations. Hamada was exposed to
these attitudes during his 3 years in England, related to folks there
involved in the Ruskin & Morris inspired arts and crafts movement. Folks
in Hammersmith & Ditchling, like Ethel Mairet, Eric Gill, Charles
Ashbee, Desmond Chute, Edward Johnston, KilBride, Brocklehurst and
Dustan Pruden, helped create the new tradition.
We are very lucky to be involved in working with clay,
making functional pots. It is a place where nature and culture are
brought together. It is a way to put creativity above $consumption$.
There is an excellent catalog related to the topic from the '97/'98 show
at the Messe here in Mashiko: "The English Arts & Crafts Movement and
Hamada Shoji" The back is full of essays in english. I think they still
have it for sale. I am surprised so little is published in America about
this aspect of Leach and Hamada's work.
STEVE, I have a photo of me firing the kiln in this pdf brochure:
http://www.archive.org/download/Ikiru_Pottery_Brochure_Front/FrontIkiruTrifold.pdf
http://www.archive.org/download/Ikiru_Brochure_PDF_Back/BackIkiruTrifoldb.pdf
--
李 Lee Love 大
愛 鱗
in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://seisokuro.blogspot.com/ My Photo Logs
http://ikiru.blogspot.com/ Zen and Craft
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