Directory of Woodfired Resources

Home > Arts > Crafts > Ceramic Art and Pottery > Techniques and Styles > Woodfired

This category is for sites focusing Wood-fired pottery. They will provide non-commercial displays and/or information on the technique.

Wood firing remains a lengthy, labor intensive process. Depending on a number of factors--kiln size, desired temperature, and system of delivery--a firing may take twelve to thirty-six hours

The Japanese are famous for their wood-fired pottery, fired in an anagama (a single-chamber, tunnel-shaped kiln) or a noborigama (a multi-chamber kiln). The use of these wood-fired kilns has spread worldwide.

These specialized wood firings can take up to a week to complete. The fire is started with tiny pieces of wood and the kiln is stoked every five minutes. When the kiln becomes hot, large pieces of pottery are added at regular intervals. The fire is kept burning 24 hours a day for several days until the clay has matured. The kiln is left to cool for several more days—if it is opened too soon, the pots will crack and break. Because it is so labor-intensive, potters who use these kilns often fire only once a year. They save up an entire years work, perhaps hundreds of pots, for one firing.

Most wood-fired pottery doesn't have a glaze. As the fire gets hotter, drafts pull wood ash through the kiln where it is deposited on the pots. The pots are so hot from the flames (they glow red like charcoals in a barbecue) that the ash melts on the clay and creates its own glaze. The patterns produced are unpredictable.

Subcategories

• Ceramists and Potters
• Shopping

Resources in This Category

• Anagama

  http://www.anagama.co.uk/
  Gas Kimishima works in the UK in the Japanese tradition. Photos and details of pots and an Anagama single chamber kiln.

• Anagama West: A Pyromaniac's Dream

  http://www.anagama-west.com/
  General information regarding an anagama wood fired pottery kiln. Includes recommended books and links, extensive image galleries of the building process, clay recipes, images of fired pieces.

• Shiho Kanzaki's Anagama Studio

  http://www.the-anagama.com/
  Japanese stoneware from the 5th century to modern times. Includes history, discussion of kilns, photograph galleries.

• Sidestoke

  http://sidestoke.com/
  Provides information on anagamas and other woodfired kilns, pots and the artists.

• The Log Book

  http://homepage.eircom.net/~thelogbook/
  The International publication for woodfires and those interested in woodfired ceramics. Subscription information, back issues and contributor guidelines.

• Wood-fired Ceramics

  http://www.drevopalici.net/
  Provides links to information about wood-firing and wood-fired ceramics in the Czech Republic and world wide. In English and Czech.

 

Home > Arts > Crafts > Ceramic Art and Pottery > Techniques and Styles > Woodfired

 

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