We had summer firing this year I had a bad back earlier in the year and was recovering from further back surgery. It was nice to be in Scotland in the summer although the weather was more autumnal and wasn’t very warm. I had only been making relatively small pots most of this year but had plenty to put in the kiln. We had loads of time for glazing and had help from “Zombiecazz” for the firing. As usual Nigel was up at the crack of dawn to start the firing. I had to be careful because of my back so was grateful for some help with stoking. We had a steady temperature rise to cone 010 and started reduction. In retrospect there was less black smoke than usual which had consequences later. We then had a steady temperature rise with little stalling up to 1300 C. Cone 10 and 11 went down in good time around 20:00 and we soaked for an hour before calling it a day. It is always a mistake to think you have cracked woodfiring. It is an unruly beast and generally has the upper hand. So it proved on this firing. After 3 days of cooling we opened the kiln with the usual expectation. As we unloaded the kiln it was apparent that there had been poor reduction for many of the pots. While there were some good pots over all there were mixed results. The Tenmoku glazed pots were particularly odd being very dark and matt. Oh well as ever, woodfiring is a life long learning experience!
David Mason Pottery 
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