Archeology

Reduction cooling in a wood fired kiln is probably the highest labour investment in firing I have ever experienced. First you have to fire the wood kiln to temperature and then you have to fire it down to 1350 F which can often take as long as a firing. Our last firing was 48 hours with a 15 hour cool to 1350F. Then when you unload the kiln the pots are covered in unmelted ash and you must spend time washing the pots, scrubbing them with wire brushes, Dremel tools, flapper wheels, wet sand paper and then add a bit of walnut oil or don't tell anyone I told you this -Armoral car cleaner. I had the added problem of the iron rich clay scumming lime which had to be cleaned out with muriatic acid and then the lime had to be scrubbed and washed off. I have now put almost 4 full days into trying to excavate colour from under the surface. I have one large pot- the one on the right that is probably the best one I have made. It has almost been worth all the trouble. Sometimes there is one that comes along that makes you want to do it again.
My apologies for the photos of the bigger ones. We don't have a backdrop big enough so i might take better photos when they are installed.