Boring box, huh?

The bourry firebox, the boring box,  the upside down firebox or the geriatric wood firers fire box has often been given this rap of producing these gentle glazed surfaces. Well the train kiln that John Neely developed put that theory to rest. Donovan Palmquist built our kiln so that I could walk into it and not crawl on my hands and knees. Here are a couple of unglazed pots from the throat arch of the kiln. I told the students that my high iron clay doesn't look all that great in the wood kiln. Well, I lied! Check out that jug with the yellers, greens, blues, ochres  and ya shiny brown. Firing #5 was a beauty with all the woodies going home with some killer pots. We must have had 500+ pots in that firing. I was a bit worried that the flame wouldn't have much room to travel but the kiln worked it's magic. The back of that kiln continues to amaze me with some of the best ash being on the pots at the back.