Origami, oregano, anagram, anamanamana.
I've heard 'em all.
Good morning!
I'm from Columbia, South Carolina
and I'm here because I got the opportunity to do one
of the things on my bucket list and join an anagama kiln firing.
♪
Well, the shape of the kiln goes back to
about 900 A.D. Japanese original kiln influenced
by the Chinese, we're not sure. But it was dug into
a hillside into raw clay and it is a bottle shape
or a flame shape.
So you have starting a little bit
smaller and rounded, going into a belly and then
going up to the top and to a point so that the fire
will actually move through the entire kiln.
By going up the hill, we don't have to put
quite the chimney on it and we get strong draft
and we're able to get to the temperature.
[engine buzzing]
I have now gone from being a full time
potter for 38 years, to being a full time wood
splitter <laughs> and a part time potter. We get trees that
have already been cut. The tree services have to pay
to dump it, so I just get them to come bring it here.
Now I have 15 to 20 potter's that participate
in these firings and everybody comes and helps
with the work.
The difference between the
kil and a kiln is basically where you grew up.
It's kiln in my book, but I know people
who want to call it kil.
The word is spelled k-i-l-n with an "n." I grew
up in South Florida and it was always just kil.
Kiln.
♪
We spend probably two days glazing and
wadding and getting everything ready.
What I'm doing here is using wadding that will raise
the piece up off of the kiln shelf.
We're going up to temperatures
where the wood ash itself will melt
and form a glaze. So, you have to raise everything
up off of the shelf, or else it will be glazed
down to it and it'll break the piece and break
the pot and the shelf
♪
Nobody can say I'm not dedicated.
I think that's too tall.
We load the kiln from the
back all the way forward, filling it in each layer,
so as to allow the flame to go through the entire kiln.
Every time you fire, it's going to be
different, because how the pots are stacked in the
kiln will determine how the flame weaves its way through.
We'll take that.
We have to be careful that we want to get the glazes that need
a lot of heat in one area and distributing that is
an ongoing process that usually pretty experienced
people are doing the loading that know the kiln
and the more we know about the kiln the better we
can place the pieces.
So those in front get a lot more ash. Those
that are facing the front, that front surface will
get ash the back might not get as much. Depending on
how the kiln is stacked every time there's going
to be a different firing.
The cones look good. I can see both sets.
Ceramics depends upon time and temperature
and the cones melt at the same rate that the glaze
melts. So we're not just going to a temperature.
We're going to a temperature and holding
that temperature. That allows the relationship
between the ceramic ingredients to melt and
form the glaze or glass like coating.
After finishing loading the kiln, we will actually
build a small fire without starting it and then we'll
break up the door so that when we're ready to we can
start it very easily and we'll begin to firing.
[thunder clap]
There is a tradition saying when it
rains, it enhances the glazes. The humidity
carrying a lot of H2O in there, both the oxygen
level and the hydrogen will supposedly enhance
the glazes.
What's the front and back looking like?
Well, front's holding at 15 77. The back
is getting better and we're...
Reason why we keep a log
of the temperatures is so everybody knows where
we're at in the firing. There's a certain
temperature that we want to reach at a given time.
You don't want the kiln to run too hot, too
fast, or obviously you don't want it to be too
slow and low. And you'd like to have the back and
the front, about the same.
How about, hey guys, another stoke, front,12 pieces at least.
Mix 'em up in between.
So the kiln is monitored and stoked for
the next 30 hours or so. And that's done with teams
of at least three if not, four people who watch the
temperature rise, stoke, move the wood, talk, chat,
eat, and then stoke more.
♪
And we do that through the night.
We have different shifts, usually they're
four to eight hour shifts, depending on everybody's
schedule. And that schedule is maintained
constantly throughout the entire firing. You do not
leave this kiln alone. You never leave it for more
than 15 minutes without somebody paying attention.
♪
Once the kiln gets up to temperature and
you're working around the kiln, we require that you
wear non synthetic clothing. Polyester is a
big no no 'cause it, it's plastic and it does melt.
When it's at temperature, that piece of wood you
throw in will start on fire before it leaves your hands.
At the height of this firing, there is a
roar that starts in the kiln.
When you open up the
door to stoke, the oxygen flows in and ignition of
unburned gases starts and you start hearing the roar
of the kiln. It's like the wakening of the dragon.
[burning wood crackling]
I have listened to that for so many times and I thought
that's the name of the kiln, Firesong.
♪
The kiln has cooled for five days and now it's
Christmas morning.
♪
The glazes went well.
Well unloading a kiln is
probably the most exciting part of the entire process.
Maybe not as dramatic but exciting for all the
potters because there's been a transformation.
Before, it was flat. Now it's not flat anymore.
About 30 colors running in there.
You know, there's results, every time you fire.
The results are always
going to be different.
And that's the serendipitous
nature of this kiln.
Yay!
It looks good.
The unique thing about any
wood kiln, and particularly the anagama
is the impact of the flame on the glaze and on the
clay body. We really don't know what we're gonna get.
But we put it in the kiln with the idea that we'll
get something may be interesting or exciting.
And then, you just wait. And you're always surprised.
And most of the time, it's even better than you thought.
♪
Broken pot. <laughs>
Sometimes it can be disastrous.
<laughs>
Well, we have half of a robot here.
When he went in, he did have a head.
But unfortunately, the kiln had other options for him.
In either case, it's always, it's always
worthwhile, because there's a sense of discovery.
♪
Good kiln everybody! <applause>
I think the thing that brings us back
to the kiln is the camaraderie and
the interaction, the exchange that happens
between young students who are just starting out and
people who have been doing it for 30 or 40 years.
There's a lot of exchange. It's informal, but it's,
it's part of the enjoyment and part of the reason we do it.
We get to see the new work that everybody
has been working on and get to catch up with each other.
This is now sort of the clay clubhouse.
It is creativity personified. It's happening in the kiln
and we're honored to be a part of that.
Firesong!