Paul Lewing on thu 19 jan 06
on 1/19/06 3:03 PM, mel jacobson at melpots2@pclink.com wrote:
> fire with color. look in your kiln, see what is going on.
A story:
When I was about a junior in college, I finally got to the place where I was
able to pretty much fill a gas kiln on my own, so I signed up to fire it.
Loaded it, put cone packs behind all 3 peep holes, lit it to candle
overnight and went home. When I came in in the morning all the cone packs
had blown up and the kiln was red inside. But Rudy (Autio, my teacher) was
there and he said, "Don't worry, I'll stay with you this evening and we'll
just fire it by color". I said, "You can tell cone 9 from cone 10 by
color?" "Oh, sure". Well, he did. It came out fine. Three years later, I
could do it too, if I had to.
When I worked at Pottery Northwest in Seattle, when it was in a series of
long skinny rooms with the kilns in the middle, there was a guy who could
tell from two rooms away when his kiln had gone from 9 to 10, just by the
sound. I never figured out how to do that, but I saw him do it, time after
time.
Paul Lewing, Seattle
Victoria E. Hamilton on thu 19 jan 06
Thank you Mel.
This so resonates for me. Moving and poetic - sort of "lore" like. You
took me right there, with those folks - looking at the color of fire.
Years ago, I used to fire at night. You could really see the fire -
unhindered - no distractions.
Thanks again.
See you in Portland.
Vicki Hamilton
Millennia Antica Pottery
Seattle, WA
-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of mel jacobson
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2006 15:04
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: firing by color
think of the millions of firings done years back with no
cones, pyrometers, oxyprobes.
my god, how did they do it? get it right?
go back in time. think like an old potter..the ancient one.
he had to do everything by experience.
his wife was looking over his shoulder...`not yet, not yet..one
more hour`. `*#$$%#( hush` `remember last time, you turned
it off too soon`... %&*(^%
yes, experience.
after a few years of firing a fuel kiln...you see color,
kiln atmosphere far more importantly than cones.
your sense of what is going on is very important, it is
your key to success.
that is what apprentices learned. the ancient ones experience.
the stories, the firing, the wind and rain....
now folks get in a panic if the kiln's program is off a quarter cone.
call in...`my kiln is off a degree, what do i do?`
i am sitting here with two books on my lap from japan...our `newyears` box
just arrived.
i got the most wonderful book of the work of kawai.
1924-1948.
i wonder when he turned off the kiln? what did he do in 1924?
who did he confer with?
the other book is arakawa. about 150 images. drop dead wonderful.
shino. my god this is shino. no question about it. you don't have
to add a name like american, malcolm. this is shino. arakawa shino.
i wish you could all see the husband and wife team, japan, firing a wood
fired kiln. just the two of them. the wood is all stacked, split
and ready. they just take turns, one sleeps on a matt, the other
loads wood.
their heads together, looking in the kiln....discussing the final
stokes. the master potter all nervous....waiting. then he enters
the discussion...but i bet the little old man with the sticks in his
hand makes all the final decisions. experience.
anyway.
fire with color. look in your kiln, see what is going on.
learn to know. memorize. think what happens when the
wind starts to howl, the temp drops...what would you do?
nice thoughts.
mel
from mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
website: http://my.pclink.com/~melpots3
____________________________________________________________________________
__
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
mel jacobson on thu 19 jan 06
think of the millions of firings done years back with no
cones, pyrometers, oxyprobes.
my god, how did they do it? get it right?
go back in time. think like an old potter..the ancient one.
he had to do everything by experience.
his wife was looking over his shoulder...`not yet, not yet..one
more hour`. `*#$$%#( hush` `remember last time, you turned
it off too soon`... %&*(^%
yes, experience.
after a few years of firing a fuel kiln...you see color,
kiln atmosphere far more importantly than cones.
your sense of what is going on is very important, it is
your key to success.
that is what apprentices learned. the ancient ones experience.
the stories, the firing, the wind and rain....
now folks get in a panic if the kiln's program is off a quarter cone.
call in...`my kiln is off a degree, what do i do?`
i am sitting here with two books on my lap from japan...our `newyears` box
just arrived.
i got the most wonderful book of the work of kawai.
1924-1948.
i wonder when he turned off the kiln? what did he do in 1924?
who did he confer with?
the other book is arakawa. about 150 images. drop dead wonderful.
shino. my god this is shino. no question about it. you don't have
to add a name like american, malcolm. this is shino. arakawa shino.
i wish you could all see the husband and wife team, japan, firing a wood
fired kiln. just the two of them. the wood is all stacked, split
and ready. they just take turns, one sleeps on a matt, the other
loads wood.
their heads together, looking in the kiln....discussing the final
stokes. the master potter all nervous....waiting. then he enters
the discussion...but i bet the little old man with the sticks in his
hand makes all the final decisions. experience.
anyway.
fire with color. look in your kiln, see what is going on.
learn to know. memorize. think what happens when the
wind starts to howl, the temp drops...what would you do?
nice thoughts.
mel
from mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
website: http://my.pclink.com/~melpots3
Frank Colson on fri 20 jan 06
Paul- I know your are an old pro, but, anyone can download a free color
chart, indicating cone drops by color, at my website (below). Good starting
point is to always know that dull deep red, just beyond black, is 900
degrees. Your most crucial period for removing "chemical water" from clay is
this range.
I've always enjoyed fruit! So, when I see fire color "deep cherry" (1200
degrees plus), I always think of the time I was transported to a site
in Vancouver, to conduct a kiln building workshop. When the car came to a
stop under the hovering branches of a cherry tree, I opened my door, and
"plop", a branch of deep red cherries dropped right into my face. I grabbed
a cherry, even before getting out of the car, popped it into my mouth,
thinking: "Aha, this is 900 degrees. Now I can turn the flames up and go
for it!"
Enjoy!
Frank Colson
www.R2D2u.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Lewing"
To:
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 12:29 AM
Subject: Re: firing by color
> on 1/19/06 3:03 PM, mel jacobson at melpots2@pclink.com wrote:
>
> > fire with color. look in your kiln, see what is going on.
>
> A story:
> When I was about a junior in college, I finally got to the place where I
was
> able to pretty much fill a gas kiln on my own, so I signed up to fire it.
> Loaded it, put cone packs behind all 3 peep holes, lit it to candle
> overnight and went home. When I came in in the morning all the cone packs
> had blown up and the kiln was red inside. But Rudy (Autio, my teacher)
was
> there and he said, "Don't worry, I'll stay with you this evening and we'll
> just fire it by color". I said, "You can tell cone 9 from cone 10 by
> color?" "Oh, sure". Well, he did. It came out fine. Three years later,
I
> could do it too, if I had to.
> When I worked at Pottery Northwest in Seattle, when it was in a series of
> long skinny rooms with the kilns in the middle, there was a guy who could
> tell from two rooms away when his kiln had gone from 9 to 10, just by the
> sound. I never figured out how to do that, but I saw him do it, time
after
> time.
> Paul Lewing, Seattle
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
__
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
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