Fired-Up

Three things noteworthy today that I had to share. First of all I'm really Fired-Up over one of the books my mother gave me for my birthday.

"Wood-fired Ceramics, Contemporary Practices" by Coll Minogue and Robert Sanderson. Here is an excerpt from the inside cover. "In Wood-fired Ceramics, Coll Minogue and Robert Sanderson briefly describe the development of the main types of wood-fired kilns used by today's potters. They then present the aesthetic aims, working practices and kilns of an international group of artists. Kiln-firing logs, clay, glaze and slip recipes, and kiln plans are also included. The work by over 60 artists, which illustrates the text, is representative of the diversity of styles in contemporary wood-fired ceramics. An Awesome book.

Anyway, I gotta build one of the kilns illustrated in this book. It is called a "long throat Bourry kiln" . Sandy Lockwood uses one and hers is based on a design by Stephan Harrison. The link I'm posting is actually Andrew Stewart's kiln but good photos of this type of kiln. I need to get some brick so I can start building.

Another book I recieved is "Ceramics of Picasso" by Georges Ramie. I've never been a big fan of Picasso's paintings but I'm really impressed by his pottery. Maybey I just think his artwork is better suited for pottery rather than canvas. Anyway, this book has 223 fantastic color illustrations.

Another neat item I came across is a product called Cerafiber Wet Pack. This might have a lot of kiln building and kiln repair applications. My friend John works with furnaces and boilers and he is the one who suggested it. It is a needled refractory fiber blanket that is packaged in a moist form. The flexible sheets can be easily cut and can be custom molded in complex shapes to a required size, shape and thickness. When the product dries, a hard rigid surface is created. Its refractory limit is 2400F. I contacted a company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin named Fire Brick Engineers Co. Price is $44.00 for a 2 foot by 3 foot sheet, one inch thick. Seems a bit spendy but it might have a lot of applications. When I get some extra money I'm going to have to get some and see what I can do with it. Better get going. Will try to post some more Raku glaze recipes tomorrow.