wood kiln designs to share..anybody?

[Shazieh Gorji]

Hello,

I am a ceramic artist addicted to wood firings and have yet to build
my own kiln. The time has come to build one, and i am hoping somebody
woudl be willing to share a detailed (withmeasurements/instruction)
set of kiln designs with me.

I am mainly looking for a small to medium size kiln to build. It
shoudl have a stoke hole that does not require strenuous bending and
is efficient to fire. Some kilns are back breaking and hard to get
even, others are designed as a challenge which is exciting, albeit, i
am not yet ready for such a kiln nor do i make enough work tomake a
large kiln.

i am based in karachi (pakistan) in a city of 18 million. i can assure
you it will not be built in a residential area. have already worked
out an industrial area where someone is letting me build at their
factory! what a juxtaposition; i find wood firing extremely spiritual
and the process i am sure for all of us, is what drives us to want to
fire again and again. it shall be a new one for me to fire in an
industrial angular zone as opposed to in the countryside, as i have
done in teh past.

I hope you are all well and firing away. If anyone woudl liek to share
any tips, designs, layouts, i woudl be most most grateful~*~*

blessings and firecakes

shazieh

--
www.shaziehgorji.blogspot.com

"Everyone sees the Unseen in proportion to the clarity of his heart,
and that depends upon how much he has polished it. Whoever has
polished it more sees more - more unseen forms become manifest to him"
- Jalaluddin Rumi

[ash...@aol.com]

Hello Shazieh, I have just built and fired a Manabigama designed by John Theis and Bill Van Gilder. I got a grant and had John come to help me and my crew build the kiln. We built the kiln in 4 days.

We fired it 2 weeks later. The firing was great. Like John says , if there are any issues just add more wood. We got cone 12 at about 9 hrs into the firing. We fired for 12 hours ..

Google : John Theis or Manabigama wood fire kiln

What a great kiln

 

Peace

Mark Issenberg

lookoutmountainpottery.com

[Eric Friedericks]

Hi Shazieh,

I built a woodfire kiln several years ago and took pretty detailed pictures of the construction. There are things I would do differently, and I might even build a completely different style of kiln, but I am more than satisfied with the quality of work that comes out of it the way it is.

http://elementalpottery.com/v-web/gallery/album05

For it to be more efficient, you could build it out of softbricks.

Hope that helps,
Eric

[Luc Foucher]

Hi,

Here you go:
You might want to make the fire-box and flue exits bigger if using
firebricks.

Chamber floor plan.

[jmar...@aol.com]

Dear Luc, I tried to open and it would not show photo. Would you mind trying again. It is probably my ancient computor. Thanks, Jerrold of Salem, Oregon

Eleveted plan.

Floor plan

Cordially.
Luc Foucher

[Micahel Banyai]

Dear Shazieh,
you need to consider your resources and this will help design the
kiln. First, what size do want to build? How much kiln building
material and what kind is available for the amount of money you have?
What size kiln shelves are most echonomical or even available? How
much product do you make every few months? Do you have a kiln now and
how often do you fire it? It is possible to size a flat top from 8 to
lots of cubic foot with geometric increase in cost with the increase
in size. Do you have access to steel and welding for frame or grates
or is it important that no steel be used? Do you have experiance with
brick work or is there a low level of experiance. Building arches and
the like can get complicated and require special arch bricks and
frame, are these something you can get or afford? All bricks are not
created equall, what kind of specs for the firebrick you can get, also
common brick, These are the kinds of questions that drive a decision
about the kind and size of kiln you can create. There is a lot of info
we can get you if you will first do the thought and leg work of what
do I have or can get for the price I can afford. I would be happy to
help you move forward once we know the answer to these types of
questions, warmest regards, Michael Banyai Petoskey, Michigan
mikeb...@gmail.com

[Lee]

I am impressed with Loren Scherbak's design:

http://www.claymaven.com/kiln.htm

I'll put up links to my kiln in Mashiko later.

--
--
Lee Love in Minneapolis
http://mingeisota.blogspot.com/
"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a
faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant
and has forgotten the gift." -- Albert Einstein

[Shazieh Gorji]

Dear Michael,

These are all extremely poignat questions i need to ask myself and it
has certainly given me perspective, as how to approach this kiln
desire.

I think it will take some time to chalk out answers to all these
questions. And i am very thankful for this input!!!!! I would
definitely really appreciate your advice once organized. It may be
some time but you shall hear from me again*~*

With many thanks and blessings,

shazieh

[Shazieh Gorji]

Hello lee and everyone else who has responded to this request*~*

I met Loren at Mary Bowron's firing this past spring (may) and what a
firing that was!!! Have heard a lot about her kiln from Terry Whye and
she too seems to love the way it fires and responds. Her website is
great and she has been really helpful!!!

Michael asked me to ask myself a lot of very poignant questions, which
is my next plan.
It seems to me that considering my current circumstances and
uncertainity as per future long term stay in pakistan i need to think
deeply about a lot. I really truly want my own kiln, it would be a
great learning experience - without needing to depend on random
firings or workshops- and would also benefit the growth of my work, i
imagine. Can fire fire fire as long as i make make make and love to
make - and have wood ready of course:-)

At the moment i have a make shift studio, which works, but cannot
accomodate a kiln. Hence, i pack work in paper waste and lay it in
boxes and drive it to an industrial area in karachi, where a generous
painter/hobbyist potter gives me access to hsi low temp gas kilns- low
temp due to inadequate gas pressure. So work size must be kept in
consideration always due to transportation and = slow growth! But
solutions crop up. HAve seriously been considering digging a big
trench at the beach and experimenting with a pit fire. Some lovely
colours can be achieved and i have not played much with that method.
The allure of wood can never quite match it, but it will have its own
charm.

For now , realistically, its beginning to look like a wood kiln is a
"next couple of years plan". *sniff*

Until then this may be a good start to gather information and work out
my "kiln plan"

With thanks and joy from karachi*~*

shazieh