Saturday, April 19, 2008

opening the wood fire kiln.


Thursday 12:45pm.
Gary takes the bricks away. Phew it looks O.K.
The kiln reached 1300+ degrees celcius at the top of the kiln, and 1300 degrees Celsius through out the rest of the kiln. That's so hot that to look at it you need welders goggles, a dazling yellow.

I'll post some pictures of my pieces over the weekend.

For the potters reading.
Cone 11 at the top of the kiln, and cone 10 through out.

3 comments:

Charlie said...

So what happens... do you actually brick up the entrance to the kiln?

Can you take some photo's of the kiln at it's peak? (the dazzling yellow)

andrew widdis said...

You load your pieces into the kiln, then brick up the door and further seal with wet grogged(fire clay, has lots of grog/grit in it)clay. There are little spy hole (half a brick in diameter)top and bottom on opposite sides (bricked door side and other). You use these holes (they are kept closed with bricks)to keep an eye on a set of cones, these cones bend with heat at certain temperatures. When the kiln reaches the desired temp/cone, you use a wet clay (fire clay, has lots of grog/grit in it) to seal up any cracks. At this stage you also brick and seal the fire bays. Leave sealed for four days to cool.

andrew widdis said...

You could, but it would burn the CCD's in your camera. I stopped photographing the fire bays 'cause my LCD was flairing so badly and that fire only gets to 900 degrees c. Iside gets to 1300 degrees c. plus.
Dazzling yellow is almost white. For ref. look at the mid day sun, actually best not.