Difficulty.......

Euan fired the kiln a couple of days ago,
on the hot summer day.



It was 38 C outside the kiln shed.
So it must be very, very hot in front of the kiln.










He drank lots of water and tea, tried not to get heat stroke.
















The result of the firing was good.

The flame made a great color and gloss on the pots. It is a beautiful result.

But none of the coffee pots or Kyusu tea pots
survived, except a few tea pots.

They are cracked around a spout.....

When he glazed the coffee pots, the glaze gathered inside the spout, then the clay absorbed too much glaze.
Because Euan fires the pots from raw, it is very difficult for glaze timing.

The weather was not good when he glazed the tea pots and coffee pots, so he could not put them outside to dry under the sun.

Therefore the pots didn't dry quick enough before absorbing glaze too much.

Euan was so disappointed with the results.

He put in a lots of time and effort to make tea pots and coffee pots.

The high humidity helps to make tea pots and coffee pots, but it backfires when glazing the pots.
The timing is very difficult and important for glazing the raw pots.


It is very frustrating and disappointing,
but Euan has to work hard to solve this problem.

Test Firing!!

Sorry to keep you all waiting!
Here are details of the Test Firing .

June 8th,

Finished all the production work,

Started packing the kiln for the test firing.

It looked like rain,

so we have to finish packing the kiln before the rain.

Euan has got IGUSA straw from our neighbourhood TATAMI shop in TAKUMI NO SATO, Craft village,  Minakami.



We wrapped them very carefully.
Each step in the process has made us happy.

Euan looks very excited and happy!

He could not help whistling
and telling jokes of course. （＾－＾）













Euan will fire the kiln tomorrow.

We have finally come to this point.



















June 9th,

Our friend prepared  offerings to the Fire God.

We prayed for the success of the kiln firing .

Euan lit the fire in the kiln at last.

I think our cat, Jiji, was also hoping for success.

It was pouring with rain.

It was a very good reduction firing.



Our friend, Raku, who has helped us since last year, also helped with the firing.


Thank you, Raku.






Euan watched the flame in the fire box.

He adjusted the wood stoking pattern throughout the firing, the kiln temperature seemed to climb smoothly.

The flame looked like it was alive.

This kiln was made from the old bricks from the ruined kiln in Tochigi.
This kiln was rebuilt and reborn.

The flame from the chimney looked like a Phoenix.

The kiln seemed happy to be reborn, too.


The kiln temperature reached 1305℃, the seger cone 10 was completely down, the firing finished 10minutes before the scheduled 14 hours.

Every body cheered!
(apologies to our neighbours....)

He sealed the fire mouth, blocked the blow hole, closed the damper. Then it was time to wait.

Well done, Euan!

It was a fantastic firing. 

I can't wait for the opening!

June 12th,

Euan opened the kiln door.

The flashing is beautiful!
The dragon stamp looks very good!

There are very few losses from this firing.

The results are wonderful.

The kiln is a success!

Now, Euan starts to make pots for the first firing exhibition.

We have waited for this moment a long time.

Euan put aside his career for the sake of his family, and he has worked very hard.

Thank you, Euan.

And it is with the help of many friends that we have come this far.

Thank you all.

Our children worked very hard, too.

Each of the kids has done their best to help while adjusting to the new environment and a new life.

Thank you kids!

Love you all!!

Euan is able to restart as potter in Minakami at last.

 

Thank you.

 

Fired the Kiln!

Euan fired his kiln.


He really wanted to fire the kiln once more before his exhibition, but time is ticking and he didn't want to　push himself too hard into a corner....

He had already put aside many works for this exhibition.

So he chose a variety of his best pots to pack the kiln, and fired.
It was a very relaxed firing.

Our youngest son helped his Daddy to pass the fire wood after he came home from the preschool.

At the end of the firing, a friend dropped in.
He and Euan talked about pottery a lot in front of the flame.

Our other two sons also joined to them, but didn't really help....

Euan will open the kiln the day after tomorrow,
then he'll choose his works for the exhibition.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing the results.