The first firing of the woodfired kiln at Gledfield Mill in Ardgay was rather earlier than planned this year. The weather turned rather chilly and we were in for some snow. We made the decision to start firing mid-morning with aim of finishing in the early hours of the next morning. Despite the cold temperature the firing went well and the kiln behaved itself firing easily up to 1000C cone 010 to start reduction at around 17:30 for an hour and a half. We then started the next phase of the firing which took 6.5 hours to cone 10. We then did a gentle soak until 00:30 and then closed everything off and called it a day. Fortunately the snow held off until a few hours after we finished. By later that morning the snow was falling fairly heavily and we were glad we had made the decision to fire when we did. We opened the kiln two and half days later with a back drop of brilliant sunshine and crisp snow. The pots looked good against the snowy background and we were happy with the final result. With some good ash glaze melts and with a nice range of shino glazes from deep orange to subtle white orange tints. Certainly an unusual firing experience but as every great fun.
David Mason Pottery 
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