I built a wood fired raku kiln 2 weeks ago, I have fired it 3 times. At the moment I am frustrated with it but I am just tired and impatient with it. I have new ideas for it, just little revisions. I have been quitting the firings at 3 hours when my glazes had just started to mature. this weekend I will fire it for 4 to 5 hours. If my glazes dont fully mature at 4 to 5 hours I will tear the kiln apart and build the ware chamber higher yet than the fire pit. I do like the way it fires, it breathes nice, it reminds me of an anagama I fired 3 years ago. It gets a cone of flame out the stack latter in the firing with little flame tips and it puffs after I stoke it too, like a little dragon.

I like the idea of firing with wood, its a plentiful resource, in this part of the world anyway. Most of the pots and ceramics in our long history were not made with gas or electric. I will suppliment the ends of my firings with a propane torch if need be but ultimately I would like to design a kiln that fires easily to 1950 degrees with wood alone. So far my little kiln doesn't use a lot of wood either. The design of the kiln must make the most efficient use of the fuel source.

In the meantime I am having fun with this whole process. Last week my neighbors came over to help out and I suspect that they enjoyed it too. My little dragon is magical and I want to share the experience with people.

Into the Unknown

Tomorrow I leave for Arkansas for the day. I will awake early, get into my truck and drive. In this photo I was coming home from a long trip, the unknown, what was new, was at home. I was driving East into a Kansas rising sun. We cannot know how our lives will unfold, we drive into what we have dreamed for ourselves.....the mystery of it is delicious.

New Tea Pots (:

This one has a flaw so I didn't put it into a gallery but I liked the shape. Fun to make.

This weeks kiln was a treasure chest and totally unexpected because most of it was refire pots. I am finding that this is one of the perks of cone 6 electric firing, if you don't like the pot, reglaze it and throw it back in. I had mixed up a 'red' recipe I had gotten from the ceramics magazine and glazed the inside of one of my 11" bowls with it. It came out a slightly darker version of pepto bismol, so I sprayed it with my cobalt black glaze and put it back in.

Another gem was this 14" platter, the celadon glaze crazed like old Japanese and Chinese pottery made centuries ago, making the piece look old and new at the same time.

Its deep into the night...I just finished firing my kiln. The only sounds are a soft October rain and a train whistle in the distance.....

This is an image I took in historic downtown Santa Fe of some street musicians sitting outside the Starbucks playing impromtu jazz. This image is in an online exhibit, 'Your Best shot' at www.rohophoto.com. and also in 'Snap to Grid' at www.lacda.com.