Wood Kiln

Noborigama Kilns are multi chambered, wood fired kilns and the one at Tim Scull's Canton Clay Works was my nemesis for quite a while.  After participating in many firings I realized why I was so disappointed with my results.  The problem was that I had too many expectations of what I expected my finished pieces to look like.  It wasn’t until I let go of those expectations and opened myself up to “adventure” that I could appreciate and like the results.  

The process of firing a wood kiln is very time consuming and requires multiple teams of people working through the night.  It is fired for 24-30 hours and the numerous fire boxes are stoked with wood every three to five minutes. I always enjoyed signing up for the 4am-8am shift and bringing lots of warm coffee to wake me up.   I've included some photos taken while I was adding wood to the kiln during one of the firings.