Soda Firing

I fire in a wood/soda kiln to cone 10/11. After 30 years of working in clay, I’m still fascinated with the alchemy of ceramics. I like to continually discover what these materials can do. I find the process of soda firing challenging and exciting. I want to keep the element of fire alive in my work. My surfaces rely heavily on repetitive pattern. The directional nature of soda firing turns a predictable pot into a piece that changes from one side to the next, requesting further interest and investigation.

Firing my work combines the method of soda firing that I originally learned from Brad Schwieger at Ohio University in Graduate school, and the kiln design of Doug Casebeer that I learned to appreciate while a resident at Anderson Ranch Arts Center.

My kiln is based on a kiln that Doug Casebeer and Ralph Scala built at Anderson Ranch, known as the “Little Vic”. It is a 45 cubic foot, bourry box style wood kiln with forced air/natural gas burners.

I fire to cone 10/11, in a heavily reducing atmosphere. I candle the kiln overnight, and fire with the burners until I’m through body reduction. Then I start stoking with wood. I fire with gas until cone 10 is down. I close the damper two inches, and continuously stoke wood while spraying 2.5 pounds of soda ash mixed with 1.5 gallons of water into the kiln all at once, using a garden sprayer. Stoking with the kiln dampered down produces unused fuel in the atmosphere, trapping carbon on the surface of the pots. The finishing step is creating an oxidizing atmosphere to brighten the color of the glazes. I open the damper and turn the air up on the burners for 10 minutes. I let the kiln cool for 36 hours before unloading.