I began gathering materials for
the wood fired kiln at Stony Meadow Pottery in the final year of my
apprenticeship. While there were some minor purchases, (used kiln
furniture, ceramic fiber insulation, pyrometer probes, mortar supply) my
budget was fairly limited. The lion's share of of my scrounging came
during a two week work camp in southern Ohio. With the help of some good
friends as well as the staff at Cedar Heights Clay Co. in Oak Hill, OH I
palletized over twenty tons of used firebrick. The brick are salvaged
from old kilns used to fire firebrick- a high temperature endeavor
indeed, so many of the brick at the site had been rendered unusable by
exposure to extreme temperature. For every brick I was able to stack for
use in my kiln approximately twenty had to be examined and discarded.
All in all we picked up close to 80,000 brick to find the 4,000 brick I
needed to build this kiln. Kiln construction began in April with
excavation for and pouring of the frost footer.
The cinder block foundation went up quite quickly from the poured footer
despite having to cap the foundation on a slant to match the climb of the kiln
from front to back. Construction suffered some delay- my then fiancée and I were
simultaneously working to finish our house in time to move in before mid June
and planning our wedding on June 15, 2002. We were able to erect the kiln shed
in May and after a joyful mid June respite from heavy construction we began work
in earnest on the kiln itself in July. I spent the month of August turning two tons
worth of pots to fill the kiln for the first firing in September.
I began gathering materials for
the wood fired kiln at Stony Meadow Pottery in the final year of my
apprenticeship. While there were some minor purchases, (used kiln
furniture, ceramic fiber insulation, pyrometer probes, mortar supply) my
budget was fairly limited. The lion's share of of my scrounging came
during a two week work camp in southern Ohio. With the help of some good
friends as well as the staff at Cedar Heights Clay Co. in Oak Hill, OH I
palletized over twenty tons of used firebrick. The brick are salvaged
from old kilns used to fire firebrick- a high temperature endeavor
indeed, so many of the brick at the site had been rendered unusable by
exposure to extreme temperature. For every brick I was able to stack for
use in my kiln approximately twenty had to be examined and discarded.
All in all we picked up close to 80,000 brick to find the 4,000 brick I
needed to build this kiln. Kiln construction began in April with
excavation for and pouring of the frost footer.
