Starchip13 Craft & Design

Yay! Salt kiln! This is just pictures of us firing our school salt kiln (we named him Salty). For those not familiar, salt glazing is simply adding salt to a kiln during firing. The salt vaporizes from the heat and settles on the work creating a glossy surface on unglazed clay (and an orangle peel effect). For this we just used road salt.

Top picture is (left to right) Annemarie, myself, and my bf Nathan adding the rails of salt to the kiln.

Middle Left is me checking the kiln temp.

Middle right is Lyne, Andrea and I checking the test loops. After adding each rail of salt we take a small loop out of the kiln and dunk it in water. This is how we determine whether or not the kiln needs more salt.

Bottom is me playing with the gas settings at the back of the kiln

As an end of the year treat in the ceramics program we decided to do a wood firing. For those unfamiliar with the process it is essentially just a giant bonfire that you have to stoke all night long until you reach over 2000 F.

My group had the midnight to 4am shift, which is the point when you start added more wood every 5-10 minutes because it burns away so quickly. Above are some group shots, a picture of me pulling hot coal out of the bottom, and our teachers Bruce and Cathleen stoking.

Gotta love staying up all night cooking baked potatoes in the excess hot coals and drinking tones of coffee.

I have some work in there, but I have to wait another day or two before the kiln is cool enough to unload, so I will post the pictures as soon as I can.