Saturday, June 18, 2011

Soda Kiln

Last Sunday, I drove down to Independence Ky to take a load of pots to my friend Fred. He has built a very basic little soda kiln and I had worked out a deal to get some pots fired. I had about 40 mugs and a couple of utility jars.The mugs all had neuman's red slip and the jars had a thin coat of Ohio Slip.

The kiln is about as simple as you can get. Updraft with 7 cu. ft. of stacking space and one big ass power burner shooting into the middle of it. My guess would be 500k btu, It's built of salvaged hard brick with a layer of fiber over the outside. The down side, it needs more soda ports, better circulation, and it can eat a few pots if they are too close to the burner. The up side, it's more kiln than Fred had before and a good set of lessons for the next one.I'm starting to agree with the folks who say" that it's just a kiln go ahead and build something." The biggest mistake you can make is not to build anything. Thanks to Fred and here are the pictures. 











3 comments:

  1. Look at those sweet pots, it's more than just a kiln with those, isn't it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. the results look good and toasty! i really like the last two mugs.

    ReplyDelete
  3. nice kiln...i'm thinking it's a gift to be simple. i know some folks with more complicated kilns, and they spend more time repairing than firing.

    Your pots look great too!

    ReplyDelete

Comments are the currency of the Blogosphere. Remember to tip your waiter.