Getting to know the Bourry Box Kiln

"Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."  ~ R.M.Rilke 

October marked the second firing I participated in with Joy since my apprenticeship began in March. Many new forms and many test slips and glazes were a part of this series of work, and I anticipated the information that would come from them. 
It took about two days to glaze and wad, one day to load the kiln, three days to fire, and a day to unload and many days and hours after that cleaning pots, shelves, posts, and the kiln itself. 

I documented a few steps of the process that would bring these pots to life...

The firing went smoothly...we achieved good temperature, some areas hotter than others. With this firing we also learned more about the kiln....we can put cone 6 at the floor of the kiln and it comes out perfect! I had some slips burn out a bit....but they ended up being some of my favorite pots! By working a midnight shift on my own, it proved to be a valuable experience. It was my first time running a shift alone...I learned not just about the kiln's potential, but as well as my own. While working Joy's studio tour I realized that I am beginning to accomplish exactly what I was hoping to through this apprenticeship...a relationship with a kiln. Years as a gypsy potter have left me missing bits and pieces of a kiln and the firing. I have never felt like I had the opportunity to really learn about a kiln, to understand it, and to explain about it. I look forward to the following months to come and the growth in my connection with my work as well as the Bourry Box Kiln.

Latest work from the firing....