We fired the first weekend of April using a mix of hardwood slabs and split wood. The slabs were oak, hickory, and beech. The split wood was mostly ash with some oak. Split wood is sure a joy to fire with! This was a good firing throughout the kiln, with very few pots destined for the shard pile or refiring.
I love this glaze when it gives the emerald, gray, and black colors all on the same pot.
There’s so much calcium in this glaze it recrystalizes in the cooling cycle and turns almost any color except ‘green’.
These two were in the front row by the firebox of the anagama chamber.
This one’s actually fairly green.
This one was near the firebox of the anagama chamber and really responded well to all the ash.
Surprisingly, these have the same Oribe-type glaze on them. Both were in the soda chamber, and the one on the left was right by the bag wall and got a direct hit of ash and soda.
Taffy? Yellow? Straw?
Again, the same glaze on two pots from different parts of the kiln. “You can have any color you want, as long as it isn’t green.”
These two were next to each other near the firebox.
Sometimes, it IS green!
Now I’m just showboating, as Greg Cochenet says.
I like this glaze because it’s rarely blue.
Here’s a silly thing: I’ve been making the knobs on the lids of teapots specifically so the pot will balance like this. I like showing off the strainer.
I sell a fair number of these. Lots of visitors to the shop ask what they are, then say: Oh, I didn’t know I needed that!
Most folks buy these for iced tea or milk-coffee. 24 ounces is a lot of beer to drink before it gets warm! A customer asked, Well, what if I chill the mug first?
The other side is yellow. A customer called it the Jekyl & Hyde pot before taking it home.
10 inches in diameter. A really useful pot at dinner time.
Big enough for one batch of cookies.
Big enough for two batches of cookies.
Four batches of cookies!
11 inches tall so just on the tall edge of being useful, but so much fun to throw!
In January, we fire just the second (soda) chamber of the kiln. I was still dealing with wood supply issues; it seems like its been a year now of me burning more wood than my supplier can cut.
I sometimes forget how nice my glazes look on a darker clay body. The iron in the clay can really tone down the colors from how they appear on the porcelain. I rarely see such turquoise and flat olive greens like this on porcelain. Compare this glaze to the way it looks on the teabowl that is next in the gallery.
Here’s the same glaze that is on the vase in the previous picture, except it’s on a nearly white clay body. I suspect the crystals growing on the surface are precipitated by ash landing in the melted glaze. It’s a smooth surface, but not glossy like the rest of the pot.
Here’s the same glaze on the porcelain body, this time with lots more soda, and lots less wood ash hitting it.
Same Clay body as the previous two teabowls, and nearly the same glaze but with a lot of the feldspar removed so it’s a little overloaded with calcium. Glazes high in calcium tend to devitrify in the cooling cycle and turn matte. When the glaze is gets a lot of sodium on it, it turns glossy as if the feldspar were put back in.
I love the transition from soda-bleached white on the right, through rusty ash crystals to a red-tinged green on the lower left.
I should come up with more poetic names for my glazes and pots. Alpine Valley Rain Storm, perhaps? This one was closer to the fire box in the kiln, and you can see the ash accumulation has melted and is starting to flow.
I got an order for some smaller mugs than I normally make, so here’s one.
Another from the order of small coffee cups.
This firing went a full four days, and we put cone 11 down throughout the kiln. The pots that look good look really good. Some pots were over fired or had too much ash on them for my tastes. We burned four full cords of mostly oak with some hickory mixed in, a good blend for heat and color. I managed to talk my wood supplier out of everything on the lot, which was enough for this and the upcoming January firing.
Another one from the soda chamber, the Oribe-style copper glaze is performing all its tricks here. The flame path is right to left, and the dark wavy line gives a clue as to how it waves by in the kiln.
You can put a couple dozen cookies in here.
A whiskey sipper is smaller than a teabowl, and I like them to be more rustic to match the brown liquor. This is stoneware with a local clay slip applied to the outside.
You know this glaze by now. That ‘meandering river’ in the glaze is a result of the flames being deflected by two cups in front of this bowl. The darker U shape in the middle is where the flames hit directly. The white rim is where sodium bleached the color from the glaze completely.
When everything goes well, the porcelain body takes on a rainbow of colors from blue-gray through toasty orange, to white. This one is from the first chamber near the ember bed.
I use this high-calcium matte glaze a lot, especially in the soda chamber, where it reveals every lick and curl of the flame. I like that it isn’t just a blue glaze, but is blue and yellow and green and clear.
This is the same glaze as is on the blue teabowl, but it’s colored with copper and tin rather than copper and cobalt. It’s equally sensitive to the flame, and looks good in both chambers of the kiln.
This is the same jar except with the copper matte glaze. It was hiding behind another pot in the kiln, so there are direct flame marks on either side. For the longest time, my rule was that porcelain got the colorful glazes and stoneware pots got the earth tones, but I sure do like the way the iron in the stoneware changes these glazes.
At 11 inches high, this one has room for layers of different cookies. “You gotta work your way through them,” as Ken Ferguson used to say! There’s no applied glaze on here, just melted ash and volatiles from burning four cords of wood. At the lower right, you can see the brush marks in the white slip. The flames came from the left.
This is essentially the same pot as the previous jar, but placed higher up in the chamber, and farther back from the fire box. The yellowish ash was deposited earlier in the firing, falling like snow in the slow draft of the kiln. The umber colored blasts are the result of direct flame impingement in the later, high-velocity firing conditions.
I think the bottom attachment of the handle could be a bit lower to better continue the curve of the pot. Otherwise, this pitcher works pretty well. It’s the same glaze as is on the blue teabowl, but on dark stoneware and fired in the first chamber. The handle stuck out in the flame path and turned blue.
This is what happen when the same pot ends up down on the floor of the first chamber and cools in the presence of the ember bed of the side-stoke area. Those dark hues are the result of being in an oxygen-free environment.
So, my wood supplier who told me that he had piled up and burned all his stock of firewood because it was getting wet prior to the last firing, allowed that he did in fact have a couple cords of dry hickory he could part with. That, added to the wood that had been too wet to burn in the January firing, was just the right amount to fire the back soda chamber of the kiln.
We had more than enough work to fill it (we normally fire both chambers in April), and the weather was typically wet for the season. The kiln fired off like a champ, and we added 3 pounds of soda at cone 11-12. Enjoy.
This was a hot firing and this glaze responds well to heat, showing curtains of rain-like effects and some nice carbon trapping at the rim. The bowl is taller and straighter than I normally make at this 6” size, so it’s more of a server than a soup bowl.
The slightly flaring walls give just a little more visual and physical access to the interior, making this one better as a bowl for eating from.
5” wide, B-mix clay.
Faceting isn’t something I do a lot of, but some pots seem to ask for it either by form or by weight. This one was a little top heavy, so out came the carrot peeler (really). That left the form a little rigid with all the vertical lines, so I went back in and bellied out the form a little by hand.
4” high, B-mix clay body.
I’ve been making these double-bellied cups for a couple years, now. There’s a lot to play with in the form, and the tipped-in lip seems to suggest holding the coffee in with two hands. The glaze is an old favorite copper saturate known as Wille Hillix. I don’t know who it’s named after, but I love the little copper oxide crystals growing in it.
3.5” high, B-mix body.
Same double-belly mug, but standing taller and proud. Same glaze as on the faceted Yunomi and the rose-colored bowl, above, but in a more oxidized part of the kiln so the predominant colors are cool and the bare clay at the foot is nearly white.
4.5” high, B-mix.
Dark stoneware with white slip, no glaze. These pots must be useful for much more than loose tea, because they sell out at every sale.
5” high, stoneware with locally-sourced red clay addition.
That rhymes.
A low-slung teapot that holds three cups of tea, blue glaze playing its games, and some carbon trapping on the lid for a lagniappe.
5.5” high, B-mix.
These hold more than a bottle of beer, but less than a pint.
Closer to four cups fit in this one. The Brits will tell you a sphere is the best shape for brewing loose tea because the water and leaves roll around as you pour in the water and mix thoroughly. The Chinese will tell you that if the tea is tumbling around in there, you’re pouring too fast. The water should come in as a rising tide.
6” high, B-mix.
More than 48 oz, less than half a gallon, this size is just at the upper limit of what a kid can manage if it’s full of milk or juice. It’s also at the upper limit of what an adult can handle if they’re full of Sangria.
His name is Mr. Scribbles.
When pitchers are a little wider, and wear their belly a little lower, they are a little easier to manage because they don’t have to be tipped as far to start pouring, and they don’t pour quite as fast.
10” high, B-mix.
It’s sort of the same shape as the coffee cups, but with the belly blown out as far as it will go. The turned-in lip holds a bunch of flowers nicely. No glaze, just flashing slip.
10” high, stoneware.
Big enough for a couple dozen cookies. No glaze, just flashing slip.
Stoneware, 12” high, B-mix clay.
Jars this size (11”) sell quickly. Jars a little smaller (9”) sell very slowly. Tea Caddies (5”) sell quickly. I guess the 9” jars are too small for cookies and too big for candies or tea.
Stoneware, 11” high, “Green glaze.”
After the holiday sale last year, I called my wood supplier to arrange picking up wood for the winter and spring firings. He normally has 20 big bundles (15 cords) of hardwood at any given time. His son informed me that his dad was worried the wood was getting wet, and therefore had piled it all up and burned it one day!
That set me on a scramble for delivered wood, and on a 45 minute trip up the road to the big saw mill in Vergennes. The wood available there was also wet and gritty from being dumped on the ground, but I got a load anyway, hoping to dry it in the barn before the firing. The fellow who delivered split wood promised it was dry and seasoned, and in the 5 degree weather, it seemed to be so. As it warmed, it became clear that this was fresh cut pieces of deadfall that he was selling. I won’t be calling him again.
So, this was an easy firing up to 2000 degrees, and a huge struggle for the last 300 degrees. Lots of the work was oxidized, and lots was underfired. Here are a few of the good ones.
Flashing slip on dark stoneware, 3.5” high.
The flashing slip is a mix of kaolins and ball clay, with feldspar and spodumene to help it melt and make it more receptive to the atmosphere of the kiln. If you applied it to a lighter-colored clay and fired it in a gas or electric kiln, it would be white, but on this dark clay in a wood-burning kiln, it pulls iron from the body and turns that lovely orange-to-brown color you see on the left side.
B-Mix clay with high calcium glaze, 4.5” high. Soda chamber.
The flame and sodium hit this pot on the right side, making the glaze darker, more fluid, and more crystalline. The exposed white clay body at the bottom right has blushed orange and red in the cooling of the kiln.
Stoneware with high-calcium glaze, 5.5” high, soda chamber.
The glaze on here is the same as the yellow Yunomi, but with copper as a colorant. The ash, flame, and soda have painted a winter scene of distant mountains behind a snowy meadow and a stand of spruce trees. I shouldn’t have sold this one, but it did find a good home.
High-calcium glaze on B-mix clay, 6.5” high, soda chamber.
Same glaze as on the little Tea Caddy/Covered Jar above. The handle and knob were hit by lots of soda, so the glaze turned clear and emerald/turquoise. I’m really trying hard to get the balance right on my teapots. I think the handle is a bit high and the spout is a bit thin and low on this one, but it’s close to being right.
Stoneware with high-calcium glaze, 8” high, soda chamber.
I really like covered jars. They invite interaction even when they aren’t being used, and folks can’t seem to resist lifting the lid just to peek inside. “What’s he hiding in there?”
Bone Ash glaze on stoneware, 8” high, soda chamber.
This is pretty much an identical jar to the previous, but this glaze is entirely dependent on iron in the clay body for color. On a porcelain clay, it’s white!
That little square opening in the knob is both decorative and functional. It references a little door or window to give an architectural sensibility to the pot, and it lets air out of the hollow knob so it doesn’t blow up in the kiln!
High-calcium glaze on stoneware, 11” high, soda chamber.
I didn’t make pitchers for many years, but living with an excellent example from S.C. Rolf for a few years was inspiration. Now, they’re among my favorite pots to make and a best seller in the showroom.
Lonnie, my wood supplier, cut a stand of mostly hickory trees last fall. I got the slabs after a year of seasoning, and was curious as to how it would differ from our usual fuel, Red Oak. It turns out Hickory burns very hot, but has even better ember retention than oak, so we spent a lot of time raking out the fire box. We burned 4.5 cords of wood in 4 days in this firing, and the results were pretty good all around.
Copper glaze on B-Mix clay, 3.5” high, Soda chamber.
Another small cup for Chinese tea or whiskey.
Celadon glaze on B-Mix clay, 2.5” high, Soda chamber.
If you enjoy Gong Fu Cha, a Chinese method of preparing tea, these are perfect for that. They’re great for Bourbon, also.
Celadon glaze on B-Mix clay, 3” high, Soda chamber.
Another pair of cups for either Gong Fu Cha or Whiskey. Or whatever you like. The dark gray color is from carbon trapping in the soda glaze.
High calcium glaze on B-Mix clay, 4.5” high, Soda chamber.
This glaze has iron and titanium as colorants, and it really is that yellow.
White slip on stoneware clay, 4.5” wide, wood chamber.
It’s a pretty common trick among potters who fire with wood to stack a set of bowls upside-down near the fire box. It keeps them from filling with ash, and makes for very engaging surface effects. The cool gray color around the rim is from the close proximity to the ember bed during the cooling of the kiln. Iron in the clay is prevented form re-oxidizing and remains in its black state.
High-calcium glaze on B-Mix clay, 4” high, Soda chamber.
The glaze is a re-working of an old favorite, with copper and a trace of cobalt as colorants. In an electric or gas kiln, it’s matte blue.
High-calcium glaze on B-Mix clay, 4” high, Soda chamber.
The glaze is the same as the other Yunomi in this album, only without the trace of cobalt, so no blue.
Yunomi is a Japanese term for an everyday teacup.
High-calcium glaze on B-Mix clay, 4” high, Soda chamber.
High-calcium glaze on B-Mix clay, 6” wide, Soda chamber.
A friend asked me to make butter dishes that hold Kerrygold butter sticks specifically. These aren’t rectangular, but if whatever butter you like is a little soft, it fits in there really well. I sell a lot of these, so I think there must be other things that fit well also.
Shino glaze on stoneware, 5” high, wood chamber.
I have a lot of different loose-leaf Chinese teas, so I think of these as tea caddies, but they are great for sugar, salt, or little candies. If your state is quite progressive, there’s that, too.
Shino glaze on stoneware, 5” high, wood chamber.
The same jar as the previous Tea Caddy, only with a different lid system. Having the gallery on the lid is much better in kilns that produce a lot of ash, because the glaze is less likely to run between the lid and the pot this way.
High calcium glaze on B-Mix clay, 6” high, soda chamber.
I almost always use small, YiXing teapots from China, but when I’m brewing western style, this is just the right size.
Unglazed stoneware, 8” high, wood chamber.
The dark, cool-gray color near the foot is from cooling near the ember bed in the kiln. The rest of the color is from hickory wood we used this time.
Unglazed stoneware, 11” high, wood chamber.
The deeply reduced surface color is from cooling near the ember bed in the kiln. The yellow flash below the spout is where another pot was nearly touching it.
Unglazed stoneware, 12” high, wood chamber.
Lots of colors here from the hickory and reduction cooling effects.
I like these bottles for a single Day Lilly stem.
Unglazed stoneware, 24” high, wood chamber.
I love all the colors on this one. It was fired a bit back from the fire box and behind a tight stack of shelves, so most of the ash came down from above like snow and then melted. There’s not a lot of direct flame impingement on the side of the pot like you see on the previous covered jars, pitcher, and bottle.
This firing was longer and hotter than previous firings. We burned 4 cords of mostly oak in 4 days, and put cone 11 down throughout the kiln, and cone 12 is the fire box. Side stoking commenced as soon as there was red heat at that part of the kiln and continued throughout the firing.
Stoneware bottle, 9" high, from the fire box.
Stoneware bottle, 8" high, from the firebox.
Stoneware bottle, 8" high, from the firebox.
Covered Jar, 8" high, porcelain.
Covered Jar, 10" high, Stoneware with local clay and ash glaze.
Covered Jar, 9" high, Stoneware with local clay slip.
Stoneware bowl, 8" wide, Stoneware with local clay slip.
Bowl, 7" diameter, Stoneware with local clay slip.
Teapot, 6" high, Glazed porcelain, soda chamber.
Teapot, 6" high, Glazed porcelain, soda chamber.
Tankard, 5" high, stoneware with local clay slip.
Beer stein, 6" high, stoneware with local clay slip.
Coffee cup, 3.5" high, stoneware with local clay slip.
Shot glass, 2.5" high, stoneware with local clay slip.
Sipper, 3" high, stoneware with local clay slip.
Rocks glass, 3" high, stoneware with local clay slip.
Rocks glass, 3.5" high, stoneware with local clay slip.
Rocks glasses, 3" high, stoneware with local clay slip.
Rocks glasses, 3" high, stoneware with local clay slip, from the soda chamber.
Sipper, 3" high, stoneware with local clay slip.
Lots of poplar wood in this firing made it a bit of a struggle to make temperature, but we got the kiln to cone 11 throughout, and the poplar wood gives some lovely yellow and cream colors to the melted ash.
Vase, 24" high, stoneware with local clay slip.
Vase, 21" high, stoneware with local clay slip.
Bottle, 14" high, stoneware with local clay slip.
Bowl, 12" wide, stoneware with local clay slip.
Tumbler, 6" high, stoneware with local clay and ash glaze.
Tumbler, 5" high, stoneware with local clay and ash glaze.
Coffee cup, 4" high, stoneware with local clay slip.
Coffee cup, 4.5" high, stoneware with local clay slip.
Coffee cup, 4" high, stoneware with local clay slip.
Yunomi, 5" high, glazed porcelain, soda chamber.
Yunomi, 5" high, porcelain, soda chamber.
Yunomi, 5" high, glazed stoneware, soda chamber.
Small bowls, 3" high, glazed stoneware, soda chamber.
Teapot, 6" high, porcelain, soda chamber.
Vase, 12" high, stoneware.
Porcelain bottle, 9" high, from the side-stoke area.
Covered jar, 8" high, stoneware with local clay slip.
Covered jar, 8" high, porcelain with local clay ash glaze.
We fired this time with an equal mix of oak and poplar wood, and temperatures were in the cone 10-11 range except in the firebox, where we hit cone 12. We introduced 5 pounds of sods into the second chamber.
Small bowl, 4" wide, porcelain with flashing slip, soda chamber.
Yunomi, 4" high, porcelain with flashing slip, soda chamber.
Yunomi, 4" high, glazed porcelain with flashing slip, soda chamber.
Coffee cup, 4" high, stoneware with flashing slip.
Chawan, 4" high, pinched stoneware.
Teapot, 4.5" high, porcelain, fired in the soda chamber.
Covered Jar, 6" high, glazed porcelain, soda chamber.
Covered Jar, 7.5" high, glazed porcelain, soda chamber.
Vase, 8" high, stoneware with flashing slip, fired in the side-stoke area.
Cheese plate, 10" long, stoneware with flashing slip.
Cheese plate, 10" long, stoneware with flashing slip. Reverse View.
Serving Bowl, 11" wide, glazed porcelain with flashing slip. Fired in the soda chamber.
This was a cooler and more oxidized firing than I would have liked, but there were still some nice pots that came out. The firing only went about 60 hours with cone 10-11 down throughout.
Small bowl, 4" wide, stoneware with flashing slip.
Yunomi, 3" high, glazed porcelain with flashing slip.
Yunomi, 3" high, glazed porcelain with flashing slip.
Coffee cup, 3.5" high, stoneware with flashing slip.
Coffee cup, 4" high, stoneware with flashing slip.
Set of square dishes, 6" wide each, stoneware with flashing slip.
Square dish, 5" wide, stoneware with flashing slip.
Square dish, 5" wide, stoneware with flashing slip. Reverse View.
Small Bowl, 5" diameter, porcelain with flashing slip, soda chamber.
Medium bowl, 6" diameter, glazed porcelain with flashing slip, soda chamber.
Medium bowl, 8" diameter, glazed porcelain with flashing slip, soda chamber.
Covered Jar, 8" high, glazed porcelain with flashing slip, soda chamber.
Vase, 24" high, stoneware with flashing slip.
Vase, 22" high, stoneware with flashing slip, fired in side stoke area.
Not a good firing, honestly. We struggled to get temperature and the kiln was pretty oxidized. We also did a poor job transitioning from the first chamber to the second by failing to open the firebox air in the soda chamber and failing to push the damper in. That caused the first chamber to cool quickly and in oxidation.
Square dish, 4", Stoneware with flashing slip.
Yunomi, 4" high, glazed porcelain with flashing slip, soda chamber.
Pair of Yunomi, 4" high, glazed porcelain with flashing slip, soda chamber.
Yunomi, 4" high, glazed porcelain with flashing slip, soda chamber.
Small bowl, 5" diameter, glazed porcelain with flashing slip, soda chamber.
Covered dish, 5" wide, glazed porcelain with flashing slip, soda chamber.
Covered dish, 5" wide, glazed porcelain with flashing slip, soda chamber.
Covered jar, 6" high, glazed porcelain with flashing slip.
Covered jar, 7" high, glazed porcelain with flashing slip, soda chamber.
Covered jar, 6" high, glazed stoneware with flashing slip.
This was the first firing of the new wood kiln at Alto Clay Works. Between building the kiln and making pots, we only had enough work to fill the soda chamber, so that's what got fired. It was a good first firing, burning about 1.5 cords of wood in 48 hours. We added about 8 pounds of soda and got cone 11 down everywhere.
Ewer, 14" high, cast porcelain from 3D printed ABS plastic prototypes.
Bottle, 12" high, cast porcelain from a 3D printed ABS plastic prototype.
Bottle, 12" high, cast porcelain from a 3D printed ABS plastic prototype.
Covered jar, 6" high, cast porcelain from 3D printed ABS plastic prototypes.
Tumblers, Ewer, 14" high, cast porcelain from 3D printed ABS plastic prototypes.
Tumbler, 8" high, cast porcelain from a 3D printed ABS plastic prototype.
Teapot, 6" high, cast porcelain from 3D printed ABS plastic prototypes.
Serving bowl, 12" diameter, glazed porcelain with flashing slip.
Covered jar, 7" high, glazed stoneware with flashing slip.
Covered jar, 8" high, glazed stoneware with flashing slip.
Covered jar, 7" high, glazed porcelain with flashing slip.
Teapot, 6" high, glazed stoneware with flashing slip.
Teapot, 6" high, glazed stoneware with flashing slip.
Coffee cup, 4" high, glazed porcelain with flashing slip.
Yunomi, 4" high, glazed porcelain with flashing slip.
Yunomi, 4" high, glazed porcelain with flashing slip.
Construction of the two-chamber wood kiln at Alto Clay Works. This kiln is a hybrid anagama-soda kiln and fires in 4 days to cone 11-12.
The kiln at cone 10 in the first chamber, and cone 6 in the second chamber.
Greta and Michael get put to work laying the insulating brick for the first layer of the floor. Below that are foil to stop moisture and air penetration, and concrete block to further shield the barn floor from the heat of the kiln.
The floor of the first chamber and the lower walls of the firebox are complete. The floor for the second chamber will be laid later so we aren't walking all over it while we build the first chamber.
Confirming the center of the chimney will go through the roof at the correct spot.
Catenary arch forms are determined by a hanging chain.
Spray paint traces the paper forms onto plywood to create arch ribs. If you make the ribs in halves, you can get a bunch on a sheet of plywood.
The ribs are in place, level, and straight.
Lath covers the ribs to create the arch form for the first chamber. Only the back half is done here.
Chris tosses Liston a brick as the walls start going up.
The first day of brick laying got us this high on both sides. This is the back end of the first chamber.
The second day of brick-laying brought the walls 2/3 of the way up. As we get into the curve of the top, things go a lot slower.
We are starting to cut brick wedges to help the bricks match the curve of the arch.
We cut these 9x6x3-inch bricks to make the key for the door of the first chamber. This was a happy moment!
Lots of little wedges go into helping turn the compound curve at the top of the arch.
This is about as far as we can go without multiple cuts of each brick to get a custom fit.
Steve and Dan work Mizzou castable into the remainder of the arch. This is a very strong way to complete the form.
The wedges supporting the wooden form have been removed, so the arch is now free-standing. Erick starts the job of dismantling the form.
Looking down the completed first chamber from the second chamber end.
The crown of the first chamber, showing the castable (dark colored) and some excess mortar that will be scraped off.
Pat working the water-cooled brick saw. You almost cant build a kiln like this without one!
The second chamber overlaps the first by 13.5 inches. It's a puzzle to get square bricks to match a curved arch.
Yoshi placing the 18x4.5x3" lintel bricks over the stoke hole of the second chamber. These bricks were from then-on known as Yoshi Bricks.
Firebox walls on the second chamber are complete. The second iteration of this kiln, at Juniata College in PA, has straight corners instead of this stepped pattern. Much better.
Dan figuring out the exit flues and the chimney base. The back wall of the first chamber is a rough draft and was built without those big burner blocks.
Now we understand the exit flues and chimney base. Very few of the bricks in this kiln are standard sizes or shapes, so there was a lot of head-scratching to make them fit a kiln designed around a 9" straight.
The chimney and back wall is starting to rise now.
The chimney flue is divided by a wall to support two dampers.
The back of the kiln showing clean-outs at the base of the chimney.
Trying to figure out the arch with non-standard arch bricks. We eventually found a pattern that made the perfect barrel arch for the chamber.
Transferring the arch pattern onto plywood to make ribs.
The ribs are connected and ready to go on the kiln. After it's up there, we'll add lath and masonite to support the bricks.
The arch form is supported by concrete blocks inside the second chamber. It is square, straight, and level.
This arch went on in about an hour! The key is cast with Mizzou castable.
The arch is supported with buttresses and the form removed. Pat and Dan are pleased.
The steel frame is bolted up, and Dan is doing who-knows-what with that saw.
Dan figuring out the corbel of the chimney taper.
Cutting through the roof so the chimney can pass through.
Looking down the completed chimney. The bricks sticking in are 'ticklers' that promote turbulence in the exhaust gasses for more complete combustion.
The complete kiln, waiting for the castable coat on the first chamber.
595 Main Street, Alto Pass, IL 62905
steve@altoclayworks.com
618-697-4258
