Kiln diary
Notes we keep for ourselves, published because people ask what actually happens between the wheel and the shelf.
Load 214 — 11 August
Reduction held from cone 010 onward, heavier than usual because the new tenmoku was coming out thin and washed. Cone 10 flat at 11 hours 40. Two mugs lost to a warped foot ring, which is the batch of clay rather than the firing.
Load 213 — 4 August
Oxidation test for the pale matt. Cooled slowly to 900 °C over five hours to let the crystals sit. Best result yet on porcelain, still chalky on the stoneware body.
Load 212 — 28 July
A full commission load of sixty plates. Nothing exciting to report, which is the point of a commission load. One cracked rim from a plate stacked too close to the burner port.
- Average firing11 h 30 to cone 10
- Gas used per firingabout 34 kg propane
- Loss rate this year4.1%