me. That is when they first began firing stoneware bricks on slides taken of the Utah kiln.

bricks on slides taken of the Utah kiln. After my kiln

high temperatures in hillside anagama kilns. This
d in rudimentary glazes, formed when the wood ash
d to the surface of the pots. I loved the effect and
ceramic arts dail y.org
hat I wanted to pursue it.
97, I attended a three-week wood-firing workshop at

Hai Kaburi
ate University with John Neely and Australian pot-

wood kiln firing

wood kiln firing
eating Consistent Crusty Wood-Fire Results
by Lee Middleman

M
techniques & tips
atsumiya Ryoji, a master potter living
in Aomori prefecture, Japan, has devel-

techniques & tips

oped a unique wood-fire kiln to consis-
tently create ceramic pieces with a very
crusty ash surface. He achieves this by burying the work in four
successive layers of ash during the firing.
During his more-than-thirty-year career, Matsumiya has built four-
teen kilns and fired them more than 750 times. He currently has two
noborigamas, an anagama with two additional chambers, an Olsen
crossfire, an archaeological Sueki, and his new bourry box hai
kaburi (ash covering) kiln.
Matsumiya was seeking a way to achieve work similar

| Second Edition |
to the few pieces created in the rebox of his anagama. In
the firebox, only a small area is effective and the work
is subject to damage from stoking. The anagama re-
quires eight days of firing; a long time to carefully
avoid damaging the ware. On a visit to fellow pot-
ter Kusakabe Masakazu in Miharu, Matsumiya
studied Kusakabe’s version of the bourry box
kiln in which ash drops from an overhead grate
in one chamber onto the side of the floor of a
second chamber. A few pieces in or near this
area developed the appearance Matsumiya
sought. The ware must be small to avoid
blocking the holes between the chambers.
Thus he decided to design a single-cham-
ber kiln in which low side stokeholes are
used to heat and maintain temperature
while three high stokeholes located in the
front are used to place wood on grates over
most of the pieces. Because the work gets
covered in the embers from above, top stok- Above: A view of the kiln through the
ing alone is insufficient to ensure watertight
vessels and to maintain the temperature to throat arch, where you can see the tum-
melt the ash. So, after the kiln is brought to a
temperature of 2282°F (1250°C) by side stok-
blestacked pots with wadding separat-
ing, long pieces of wood are front stoked (he ing them.
continues to side stoke to maintain temperature).
The embers created from the front stoking above Left: Basket, 11 inches (28 centimeters)
fall onto the work. in height, wheel-thrown, altered and
Matsumiya has found that using four bundles of
wood creates the best results. A bundle is about 4 feet slab-built stoneware, with Shino glaze,
(1.2 m) in diameter and 6 feet (1.8 m) long, made up of
wood fired.

plans and instructions

Sake bottle, 15 cm (6 in.) in height, thrown stoneware
(a blend of local Kanayama clay and Shigaraki clay),
unglazed, wood fired, by Matsumiya Ryoji.

artsdaily.org | Copyright © 2011, Ceramic Publications Company | Wood Firing Techniques & Tips | Second Edition | 7

for making a wood-fired kiln

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and firing with wood

This special report is brought to you with the support of Larkin Refractory Solutions
This special report is brought to you with the support of Larkin Refractory Solutions

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Wood Kiln Firing Techniques & Tips
Plans and Instructions for Making a
Wood-fired Kiln and Firing with Wood
Since humans first began to understand how fire hardened clay, we have been making ceramics, both in pits
and in wood kilns. Now, with so many fuel options available to the potter, wood-fired kilns are more of a choice
than a necessity. While wood firing isn’t easy, the results are incomparable. The work in wood kilns reveals
the story of the firing, with pieces showing ash deposits and the path of the flame through the kiln. But not
all wood kilns are built alike. Some are made for flashing from the flame, some are made for melted rivulets
of ash and others still are designed to bury the ware in ash and make it crusty and craggy. Regardless of your
wood-firing aesthetic, the wood kiln plans and diagrams in this helpful guide will show you several ways to get
started understanding and building wood kilns.

Wood Firing Basics

by W. Lowell Baker
Each wood kiln has its own firing characteristics, but there are some basic principles that hold true for any kiln
using wood as fuel. Getting the basics right means better chances for great results.

Wadding for Wood Firing

by Simon Levin
Wadding is an essential material when firing in a wood kiln. Without it, your pots would be married to the kiln
shelves. To Simon Levin, wadding is a mixture of art and science. Here he shares how he uses wadding to great
effect in his firings.

Hai Kaburi: Creating Consistent CrustyWood-Fire Results

by Lee Middleman
If you want crusty pots in a wood-fired kiln, you almost have to put them in or near the firebox, where they will
be exposed to a lot of ash. This kiln design puts the firebox on top of the ware chamber, so the entire kiln load is
exposed to ash as if it were in a firebox.

The Manabigama
by John Thies
A cross between an anagama and a groundhog-style kiln, the manabigama is a wood kiln that’s within everyone’s
reach. Small, compact and simple to fire, this wood kiln can be fired by one person in a matter of hours—not days.

Glaze Recipes for Latex Resist Patterns in the Wood Kiln

by Courtney Martin
There are a lot of fun tools out there for potters to use to create patterns on their work. Latex resist is an
excellent one because, unlike wax, it can be peeled off, so it is great for layering. Add atmospheric firing to the
mix and it is even more exciting! Here, Courtney Martin shares her method for making glaze patterns with latex
resist and some glaze recipes that work great in the wood kiln!

Electric Wood Ash

by Ryan Coppage, PhD
Wood firing clay results in beautiful surface treatments, however, not everyone has the time or energy (or kiln!)
to devote to the wood-firing experience. Enter Ryan Coppage’s electric wood ash glazes, which mimic the subtle
colors, patterns, and blushes of wood-fired glazes in an electric kiln!
CeramicArtsDaily.org | Copyright © 2016, Ceramic Publications Company | Wood Kiln Firing Techniques & Tips | 1
 Wood Firing Basics
by W. Lowell Baker

Each wood kiln has its own characteristics for firing, but there are some basic
principles that hold true for any kiln using wood as a fuel.

W
ood burns in two distinctly different stages. easiest way to shorten the flame and make it hotter is to
The first, and most obvious, is the burning add oxygen.
of gasses produced when wood is heated. If you have electricity at the kiln site, adding a blower
Wood begins to gasify at about 500°F. The is one of the easiest and most controllable ways of adding
second is the burning of the charcoal. This happens, for oxygen.
the most part, after the materials that form the gasses have A small squirrel-cage fan that will deliver about 100
been driven out of the wood. The coals in your ash pit cubic feet of air per minute will supply all the air you
serve to provide some heat to the kiln and to gasify the will need to fire a small kiln. You can fabricate a bolt-on
freshly stoked wood, mostly through radiant heat energy. connector to attach the pipe to the blower, or duct tape
As the gasses burn in a wood kiln, they typically produce a piece of automotive tail pipe to the blower. You should
very long flames. These flames can be easily over 30 feet realize that the end of the metal pipe will be subjected
long. Charcoal produces very hot, but very short, flames. to a great deal of heat and will have to be replaced after
The flame from charcoal is normally less than a few inches a number of firings. Place the pipe in the ash pit of your
long. All of these issues are relevant to building and firing firebox and adjust the air-input damper to the desired air
any wood-burning kiln. flow. You will find that the flame around the blow pipe
One of the demonstrations I take my students through will be very intense. This system will allow you to fire
when we begin talking about kiln design is to bring an your kiln with a much smaller firebox than would normal-
oxygen-acetylene torch into the classroom. If the torch is ly be needed in a natural-draft kiln. The smaller firebox
ignited with only acetylene (fuel), it produces a very long, will require more frequent stoking, simply because it will
very dirty flame. One can quickly pass his or her hand not hold as much fuel as a larger box.
through this flame without any real danger, but it will be Increasing the flue height would be the last choice in a
covered with black soot. As oxygen is added, the flame small kiln. If you do this, you must be certain that you
shortens and becomes significantly hotter. As the flame have air intake ports and a flue cross section large enough
shortens with the changing oxygen-fuel ratio, smaller to allow easy circulation of hot gasses. A damper will be
flame tips appear in the center of the flame. This is the essential for control. This will be less responsive than a
place where the flame is the hottest. The more defined the forced-air system and will vary more due to atmospheric
tips are, the hotter the flame. You want this part of the conditions, because it depends on lowered pressure to
flame in the firing chamber of a kiln, not in the firebox or bring air into the kiln.
the flue. So, more air shortens the flame and more air increases
If you have a small kiln and a fuel that develops a long the temperature of the coal bed to help gasify your fuel
flame, you need to either redesign your kiln to use the more quickly.
length of the flame, or simply shorten the flame to bring
the hottest part of the fire back into the chamber where W. Lowell Baker is currently Professor of Art at the University of Ala-
the pots are stacked. As with the acetylene example, the bama, and has taught workshops for nearly 40 years.

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 Wadding for Wood Firing
by Simon Levin

Simon Levin’s Yellow Halo, 8 in. (20 cm) in diameter, porcelain, Avery slip, decorative fire-clay wadding mark, anagama fired.

As artists who wood fire, we are more observers of phenomena than from experts and innovators in the field—don’t be surprised if some of
scientists who quantify and measure. We hedge our bets. We try to them contradict each other. —Simon Levin
repeat effects while remaining open to serendipity. We have chosen a
process fraught with uncontrollable variables. Our kilns are not com- Theories
mercially produced within exacting specifications. Our fuel source, Wadding is a core material to all artists who fire their work in wood
wood, varies widely in silica, water, mineral, and alkali content, as well kilns. Wadding is the refractory material used to keep a pot from sticking
as species, and density. Among some of the other variables are clay to the shelf when ash melts or to keep two pots from sticking together.
bodies, loading techniques, firing range and duration, and weather It is central to the process, and like most fundamental things, there
and atmosphere. We struggle to test hypotheses because it is hard to are numerous complex approaches and competing theories as to what
control all variables and repeat firings. So rather than trying to present works the best. None of them are simple.
hard facts, this article sources information, observations, and theories There are three basic categories of wadding: fire-clay wadding,

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alumina wadding, and calcium wadding. All are engineered to prevent as the first time it was fired. This is because all the other surfaces have
adherence to the pot, and all happen to leave distinctive marks. Fireclay ash deposits, which will become a glaze and fuse newer wads in place.
and alumina wadding are made to be highly refractory, to avoid any Often re-wadding is impractical, in which case seashells or calcium
fluxing and thus fusing with surfaces of contact. Some are also made to wadding opens new possibilities. Although they leave a small scar on
crumble easily after firing, allowing for easy removal. Calcium wadding ash-covered area, the residue dissolves away after the firing.
is designed to dissolve and wash away after the firing. Perhaps because of the land-locked nature of a lot of wood-firers,
innovative potters have been making their own shells. Using a mixture
Recipes of half whiting (calcium carbonate), and half plaster of Paris, shapes can
Alumina wadding: This type of wadding seems to predominate in be cast and saved until it’s time to fire. A shell can be repeatedly pressed
schools and atmospheric firings where salt or soda is introduced to the into a slab of clay making the recesses for the plaster casts. Tripods can
kiln’s atmosphere. The recipe is basically a thick kiln wash, and consists also be cast using this mixture. The pointed tips of the tripod reduce
of 50% kaolin and 50% alumina hydrate. There are some variations the contact area with the pot.
though. • Ted Adler has been using a plaster and whiting mixture as wadding
• Linda Christianson uses a ratio of 4 parts alumina, 1 part EPK for about 10 years. In graduate school he tried using just plaster, but
kaolin, and 1 part old flour. The low-clay content keeps the alumina
from fusing together, while the flour is an inexpensive organic material
that burns away. She freezes the leftover wadding between firings so
the flour won’t rot. She notes that the downside of this wadding is the
expense of alumina hydrate and the white marks it leaves on the surface.
Kenyon Hansen, who introduces soda into his firings between cone 9
and 11 in order to erode his glazes and glassify the clay bodies, uses the
50/50 alumina/kaolin wadding recipe. In an effort to reduce the white
wadding marks, he makes his wads as small and hard as possible; this
reduces the surface area contact while still lifting the pots off the shelf.
Almost everyone I spoke with who used alumina hydrate wadding
was looking for an alternative, either due to the white marks it can leave
or the cost of the material. Pete Pinnell suggests that the white residue is
caused by alumina imbedded in the surface of the clay, with (perhaps)
some migration of alumina ions during the firing. Alumina hydrate
works well; it has a high melting point and tends not to fuse to either 2: Ted Adler’s 50/50 whit-
the pottery or the shelf. I found a pretty firm belief in the infallibility ing/plaster-of-Paris cast
tripods used to support
of the material. Thus, those who use it seem to see the white marks as
vessels.
a necessary evil, unwilling to try something else that might be a risk.
Calcium wadding: This type of wadding developed from the long 3: The resulting fired mark
history of potters using seashells to prevent adherence. The beauty of on the bottom of Ted Al-
this method is that the shells (which are made of calcium compounds), der’s vessel from the whit-
once calcined from the firing, will slowly turn to dust as they gather ing/plaster-of-Paris tripod.
moisture from the air. Calcining is a process in which a material is
All photos: Lars Voltz.
heated below its melting temperature to cause thermal decomposition,
remove organic material or induce a phase transition. When calcium
carbonate (CaCO3) is fired hot enough, the carbon dioxide is driven off found that it was too hard and fused to the pots. Plaster of Paris has
and what’s left is calcium oxide (quick lime or CaO). When the quick a melting temperature of 2200°F (1200°C), so at cone 9 the plaster
lime combines with moisture, either in the air or by saturating the lime fluxes and melts into the surrounding clay and shelf. By mixing plaster
with water, the CaO and H2O combine to make calcium hydroxide. half and half with whiting it raises the melting temperature and makes
Soaking pots in water will expedite this process and dissolve any stuck
it release easier and dissolve faster (2–3).
pieces of shell.
• My neighbor, Gareth Sturms uses thin cross sections of cow bones
The majority of the calcium carbonate won’t fuse to clay. Calcium
in place of wadding. He pays a certain price with some unpleasant
oxide had a melting temperature of 4735 °F. Some of the CaO is cer-
hours with a bandsaw.
tainly fusing with the clay and/or glaze, as CaO migrates easily in a
Fireclay wadding: When I was in graduate school, visiting artist
firing, however, any CaO that “sticks” would do so by being chemically
combined with portions of the clay/glaze, so it won’t be easily visible. Kirk Mangus shared his wadding recipe: equal parts silica sand, grog,
Any unreacted CaO on the surface would tend to react with H2O and sawdust, and fireclay. The benefit of this type of wadding is that the
come off. Because this material washes away, it can be used in contact mark it leaves is the bare clay color. The fireclay wadding acts as a resist,
with glazes, leaving a scar on the surface, but not additional material. protecting the area underneath from ash accumulation. It leaves no
Seashells, as opposed to fresh water shells, also contain some salt, which residue, resulting in reactive clay colors in areas of contact. Years later,
volatilizes and fumes locally, glazing and corroding any clays or glazes in my own pottery, I removed the grog from the recipe because of the
in the immediate area. cost and I have used this recipe for 15 years.
When work is re-fired, it must be re-wadded in the same manner Wadding with combustibles: The idea behind adding sawdust, flour,

CeramicArtsDaily.org | Copyright © 2016, Ceramic Publications Company | Wood Kiln Firing Techniques & Tips | 4
rice hulls, or other combustibles to the wadding is simple and seemingly
sound. Soft brick is easier to crumble than hard brick, if you can make
wadding that contains voids when fired, it will be easier to remove
than denser materials. I have accepted this principle, but John Neely
disagrees, “So often, people fill wadding up with organic material to
make it more friable. I think just the opposite happens; unless it is a
really dry firing, the gaps left by the organic material cause the wadding
to absorb ash like a sponge.” Instead, John looks for larger-particle,
round silica sand, like contractor’s 30 mesh or larger. He mixes the sand
and water in a bucket and uses just enough clay to hold it together.

Application and Loading

Hanging wads: To create turbulence and capture the flame path on
pots, I often place wads on top of wares, or hang a ball of wadding be-
tween two cups. The wadding serves no physical purpose but as a resist
to ash, and a way to highlight the narrative process of flame path (4).
Wadding dams: In areas of high ash and temperature, many potters
use the wadding material to create a small wall in front of the feet of Wadding lip: On the foot of my pieces, I curl the edge upward
their pots. Place the wadding snuggled up close but not touching these slightly making a lip (7) that encourages runny ash to pool (8), and
walls limits the amount of ash that will saturate the supporting wads (5). not break over the edge and adhere to the wads.
Recessed wads: Since ash runs down the vertical walls of pots at high
temperatures, placing the wad a ¼ to a ½ inch inside the diameter of Techniques and Tips
the foot of flat bottomed ware keeps the ash from extending down the Freezing: Flour is a common organic material added to wadding.
wall of the pot onto the wad (6). Unfortunately, this creates wadding with a shelf life. Flour easily rots
and becomes putrid. Freezing any extra, unused wadding between fir-
ings will prevent this.
Upside down: Bowls and plates can be placed upside down on a post
with a large wad in the center. With the post placed on the edge of the

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shelf, part of the bowl sticks out into Reduce surface contact: With decorative wadding I can get a dif-
the stoking aisle (9–10). As long as it ferent line quality by making wads that are very round compared
is placed above the height of the stoke with wads I press tightly against the surface. I get more halos of color
hole, the work is pretty safe from and information around the round wads, as they create a gradient of
enthusiastic stokers. The rising flame exposure as opposed to the clean lines of a wad that has sharp edges
comes from underneath the bowl, de- of contact. I think the gradient of exposure facilitates variation of ash
positing a finer ash across the surface deposits and atmosphere, leaving more rings of color.
that is less likely to fuse to the wad Maximize room: The edges of the pot do not need to be within the
than the heavier ash that accumulates parameters of a shelf, as long as the wads are in contact and the piece
on upright surfaces. In addition to the is balanced. This allows you to increase shelf potential. Large trays and
finer ash, atmospheric effects from the platters can also span multiple shelves, since the wadding levels the piece
burning organic fumes released from over gaps and bumps. In addition to wood firings, this technique can
the wood rise and interact with the be used in electric and gas firings.
clay, leaving a narrative of color and
flame direction (11). Aesthetics
Wadding has become integral to my process—no longer a mark
that must happen, but a way to capture the flame path and enhance
formal elements.
When Linda Christianson started firing in her own kiln, she had
few shelves, so she made work that could be stacked rim to rim, giv-
ing her more height in the kiln. Wadding became a visible decorative
element in her work. Though now she can afford shelves, her casserole
dishes are often wadded upside down with wad marks on the rims,
and much of her work has strong and generous rims that speak to their
legacy of stacking.
Linda was one of my teachers and as I look at the foot of my former
apprentice Kenyon Hansen’s pots—where each of the wad marks are
aligned with the ribs on the bowl—I see the same logic for size, number,
and placement of wad marks considered (12).

11: Simon Levin’s bowl, 8 in. (20 cm) in diameter, porce-

lain, Helmar slip, fire upside down in an anagama kiln on a
single fire-clay wad.

12: Kenyon Hansen’s serving bowl, porcelain with silica sand

and alumina wadding, 2014.

All photos courtesy of the artist..

Many thanks to Pete Pinnell, Linda Christianson, Kenyon Hansen,
John Neely, Lars Voltz, and Ted Adler for their help with this article.

About the author Simon Levin is a wood-fire potter from Gresham,

Wisconsin who dislikes writing about himself in the third person. He
evangelizes for wood-firing everywhere, is a Fulbright Scholar, kiln
builder, and writer, but foremost he loves making pottery and big hot
fires. You can see more of his work at SimonLevin.com.

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 Hai Kaburi
Creating Consistent Crusty Wood-Fire Results
by Lee Middleman

M
atsumiya Ryoji, a master potter living
in Aomori prefecture, Japan, has devel-
oped a unique wood-fire kiln to consis-
tently create ceramic pieces with a very
crusty ash surface. He achieves this by burying the work in four
successive layers of ash during the firing.
During his more-than-thirty-year career, Matsumiya has built four-
teen kilns and fired them more than 750 times. He currently has two
noborigamas, an anagama with two additional chambers, an Olsen
crossfire, an archaeological Sueki, and his new bourry box hai
kaburi (ash covering) kiln.
Matsumiya was seeking a way to achieve work similar
to the few pieces created in the rebox of his anagama. In
the firebox, only a small area is effective and the work
is subject to damage from stoking. The anagama re-
quires eight days of firing; a long time to carefully
avoid damaging the ware. On a visit to fellow pot-
ter Kusakabe Masakazu in Miharu, Matsumiya
studied Kusakabe’s version of the bourry box
kiln in which ash drops from an overhead grate
in one chamber onto the side of the floor of a
second chamber. A few pieces in or near this
area developed the appearance Matsumiya
sought. The ware must be small to avoid
blocking the holes between the chambers.
Thus he decided to design a single-cham-
ber kiln in which low side stokeholes are
used to heat and maintain temperature
while three high stokeholes located in the
front are used to place wood on grates over
most of the pieces. Because the work gets
covered in the embers from above, top stok-
ing alone is insufficient to ensure watertight
vessels and to maintain the temperature to
melt the ash. So, after the kiln is brought to a
temperature of 2282°F (1250°C) by side stok-
ing, long pieces of wood are front stoked (he
continues to side stoke to maintain temperature).
The embers created from the front stoking above
fall onto the work.
Matsumiya has found that using four bundles of
wood creates the best results. A bundle is about 4 feet
(1.2 m) in diameter and 6 feet (1.8 m) long, made up of

Sake bottle, 15 cm (6 in.) in height, thrown stoneware

(a blend of local Kanayama clay and Shigaraki clay),
unglazed, wood fired, by Matsumiya Ryoji.

CeramicArtsDaily.org
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| Copyright © 2016,
© 2011, Ceramic
Ceramic Publications
Publications Company
Company | Wood
| Wood FiringKiln Firing Techniques
Techniques & Tips | & Tips |Edition
Second 7 | 7
 The kiln door in the center front of the kiln is bricked up for firing. A square in the middle of the kiln door be-
comes a top stokehole later in the firing (see diagram below). The before-and-after pictures above show the
ware stacked under removable brick hobs (left) and the bed of coals (right), produced by top stoking, which
covers the ware later in the firing.

top stokeholes
angle iron arch supports

draft holes for top stoking

concrete wall for draft holes for side stoking

added support

side stokehole
(one on each side)

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 Top View

The central row

of brick hobs are
removable to allow
for stacking ware
below the grate.

The top firebox Side View

runs the entire
length of the
ware chamber.

The ware stacking

area is directly be-
neath brick grates,
and becomes buried
in coals as the
firing progresses.

As the firing nears completion, Matsumiya adjusts the draft hole in the front of the Hai Kaburi kiln before
continuing to side stoke.

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¾-inch square (2×2 cm) wood scrap. As each bundle is add-
ed gradually, the ash coals completely cover the ware. Then
they are allowed to burn down before the next bundle is
added. This ash-covering process takes about 24 hours. Top
and side stoking are complete when Matsumiya is satisfied
with the coverage of final ash. The graph below illustrates a
typical firing schedule. As a result, the ware develops melted
glaze at the upper surfaces, different colors (gray, brown,
black and some blushes), and a crusty finish below. He pre-
fers ash glaze melted on the top third to half of the ware,
leaving a rough, crusty and eroded appearance on the re-
maining lower portion. Constructed of hardbrick, the kiln
takes four days to cool. The larger ware is soaked in hot
water when unloaded to prevent cracking. Surfaces of some
ware, such as sake bottles, are lightly sanded with fine sand-
paper to make them easier to use.
Matsumiya now bisque fires most pieces to minimize
breakage. The interior dimensions reflect practical consider-
ations. The lumber company scrap is just less than 6½ feet
(2 m) long and six hardbricks are 4½ feet (1.4 m) wide, al-
lowing for mortar.
The kiln produces consistent results, but Matsumiya
will continue to adjust the firing process to improve the
look he prefers.
For more information on Kusakabe Masakazu’s bourry box
kiln, see Japanese Wood-fired Ceramics, by Kusakabe and Marc
Lancet (kp books, 2005).

the author Lee Middleman is a full-time ceramics artist living in

the San Francisco Bay Area. He participates in wood firing in Ja-
pan, Korea and China. His website is www.leemiddleman.com.

Firing Schedule

The kiln is fired with oil for the first 24 hours in order to Vase, 30 cm (12 in.) in height, thrown stoneware
get the temperature up to about 450°C (850°F), after which
(a blend of local Kanayama clay and Shigaraki
the kiln is side stoked for the remainder of the firing. Once
the temperature reaches 1250°C (2282°F ), top stoking clay), unglazed, wood fired on its side with ash
begins in order to bury the ware in embers from above. drips, by Matsumiya Ryoji, Aomori, Japan.

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 The Manabigama
by John Thies

F
or more than thirty years now, I have been build- hole. It can be loaded in two to three hours, fires evenly to
ing, firing and maintaining various large wood Cone 10–12 in eight hours tops, or if you choose, you can fire
kilns. Almost all of them have been a design taken two to three days depending on how much ash buildup you
directly from the chamber kilns used historically like. The consumption of fuel is also minimal—less than half
around the world. My present kiln is fired seven times a cord of wood.
a year for my personal work and also for group work- All in all, the Manabigama is a very simple design to build.
shops. The kiln is a 300-cubic-foot cross-draft, with It is capable of yielding wonderful ash-glazed pieces with a
three chambers in the traditional noborigama style. minimum of labor, fuel and overhead costs. And it is a fantas-
Two of the chambers are used for glaze work and one tic wood-fired kiln for teaching without the tremendous strain
is used for salt glazing. of a large three-chambered kiln.
I started using this kiln nine years ago for teaching
group workshop firings. I schedule three a year, which is Thanks to Phil Berneburg, who was instrumental in inspiring me to
build this kiln. For further information on Monocacy Pottery, see
all I can manage given the labor and time involved. Each
www.monocacypottery.com.
year, the groups enjoy the experience and the work that
comes from it, but many ask for additional space in my
kiln at other times during the year, which is not possible
given my production schedule.
With new ideas in mind, I set out to build a very versatile
and efficient wood-firing kiln that could be used by students
who had interest in a complete hands-on experience, from the
preparation, loading, firing and unloading to the final clean-
up phase. I didn’t want to interfere with the successful larger
firings, in which students can get a large volume of wood-fired
pots without the in-depth hands-on experience. The new kiln
would allow me to cut down on the extensive labor, fuel and
overhead costs of my larger kiln.
I named the new kiln “Manabigama” at the suggestion of
my friend Phil Berneburg, former technical editor for CM. In
Japanese, mana means educational or learning, bi means a
thing of beauty, and gama means kiln. The Manabigama is a
traditional design with a few simple modifications. I see it as a
cross between an anagama and a groundhog-style kiln. Basi- John Thies stokes the 24-cubic-foot Manabigama.
cally, it is a cross-draft tube built into the side of a hill.
The overall interior dimensions are 24 inches in width, 7
feet in depth, 40 inches in height. Its firebox is in the front,
incorporated into the inside with a grate system, and extra air
intakes are built into the front and sides. This is done to pro-
vide more secondary air intake to help burn green or wet fuel.
The firebox is plenty adequate being 2 feet wide, 2 feet deep
and 30 inches high from the floor to ware level. The chimney
has inside dimensions of 9 inches deep by 18 inches wide and
is 12 feet high. The shape is a long rectangle with two straight,
18-inch-tall side walls and a catenary arch built on top. This
creates ample headroom for ease of loading, as well as extra
height for stacking and tall pieces.
There is approximately 24 cubic feet of ware space, more
than enough for teaching purposes. The kiln door is in front,
only halfway down, and is bricked up including the stoke Side view of the Manabigama during the cooling phase.

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Thoughts from a Manabigama
Guinea Pig
4

Side View of Kiln

by Mea Rhee Chimney

I
had attended kiln workshops for several

4
years, and felt I was ready for more. I was 12’

4
looking for a wood kiln that I could try to 9” 4 60”
4 4
4
40”

67”
fire by myself when John called and said,
“Come see my new kiln. I think you’re going to Ware Chamber 4
24” 4
like it.” Of course I volunteered to test fire it.
4
Stoke
I had help and John was always nearby, but Flue Fire Box
Hole

4
4
for the first time I was able to manage the entire

4
8”
l l l
process, which was my goal for this firing. The

4
The Manabigama kiln was con- 25” Removable steel
kiln’s design is just right for a student at my structed with one layer of firebrick, grate bars 4
Ash Pit Air
level. All of its processes are small, straightfor- a 2-inch coating of mud and straw,

4
4
Intake
ward and flexible. I love that there is no barrier and steel buttressing, which is an
optional feature.
between the firebox and the pots, so the pots
receive as much effect from the fire as possible. Top View of Kiln
This is my goal aesthetically too.
I am already busy designing pots for my next

4
kiln load. I plan to gain as much understand-
Chimney 9”
ing as I can each time I fire it, and enjoy every
minute of it. This kiln is going to carry me to a

4
point in the future when I’m ready to build my
own. And when I get there, I’ll probably build

4
4

4
4
Flue Exits
something very similar. 4½”w × 9“h

Ware Chamber
24” 4
4

60”
4
4

Bottle, 5 in. (13 cm) in height, stoneware with Three removable

Firebox 4
steel grate bars
4

natural fly ash glaze, wood fired to Cone 12 in 24”

4½” 1½–2” in diameter
the Manabigama, by Mea Rhee, Silver Spring,
4

4
Maryland.
4
4

Air Intakes

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Glaze Recipes for Latex Resist
Patterns in the Wood Kiln
by Courtney Martin

Need to find a few glazes that work well for making patterns, and behave in atmospheric firings? Martin has the
glazes you’re looking for.

Developing Patterns Using Latex Resist

First I draw the pattern in pencil onto the platter. Then, I use liquid latex to paint a thin layer over the pattern using a
foam brush (1). When the latex is dry, I dip the platter in the first glaze. After the glaze dries, I remove the latex, and
paint over the glaze with wax (2). After the wax is dry (I often let it dry overnight, or at least a couple of hours), I dip
the platter in the second glaze and wipe away any beads from the waxed surface (3).
Because these glazes don’t really run, the pattern remains distinct after firing (4).

1 2 3 4

Recently, I’ve pared down to only using three glazes: Casebeer Black, Yellow Salt, and White Salt. They are all common glazes, but the source I
used for the recipes was John Britt’s book The Complete Guide to High-Fire Glazes; Glazing and Firing at Cone 10.

Casebeer Black (4) White Salt (4,5,6) Yellow Salt (5,6)

Cone 10 Reduction Cone 10 Reduction Cone 10 Reduction
Nepheline Syenite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 % Dolomite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.6 % Dolomite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.6 %
Albany/Alberta slip (I use Alberta). . . . 70 Nepheline Syenite . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.6 Nepheline Syenite . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.6
100 % OM4 Ball Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8 OM4 Ball Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8
Add: Black Iron Oxide. . . . . . . . . . . . 1 % 100.0 % 100.0 %
Black MS Stain 6600. . . . . . . . . 15 % Add: Bentonite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.0 %
Add: Bentonite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.0 %
Rutile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 %
Red Iron Oxide. . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 %
Zircopax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.8 %
Zircopax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.9 %

I fire these glazes to cone 10 in my wood kiln, and

add 4–8 pounds of salt. When I’ve fired these glazes
in friends’ kilns, I’ve found that they also like hotter
and saltier atmospheres. These are all very stable and I
don’t have any trouble with them running.
I add Epsom salts to each of these glazes. I like the
way it helps keep the glaze in suspension, and I feel
like it makes the glaze stronger after it is on the pot
and before it’s fired. Without the Epsom salts, I find
the glaze to be dusty and hard to paint wax over.

5 6

4 Kuba Platter, 16 in. (41 cm) square, Casebeer Black and White Salt glazes. 5 Star Tray, 13 in. (33 cm) in length, White Salt and
Yellow Salt glazes, 6 Salad plate, 8 in. (20 cm) in diameter, White Salt and Yellow Salt glazes. All pieces are made of Starworks’
Okeweemee Medium clay, and are wood fired to cone 10, with 4–8 pounds of salt added.

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 Electric Wood Ash
by Ryan Coppage, PhD

Many, many potters are eventually seduced by wood-fired ceramics and the beautiful, subtle colors, patterns, blushes,
and unpredictable depths found, therein. For those of us that cannot manage the significant time or effort that a wood kiln
demands, there are other options.

Defining the Terms Wood Ash Byproduct vs. Wood-Fired Ceramics

Bottom Ash: Ash particles that are too Many of us keep day jobs and dream of that week we can pour into an
large to be carried up with the flame.
anagama firing, only to emerge utterly exhausted and back at the daily grind.
Flashing: The deposition of gaseous The goal here is to make “wood-fired” pottery at home, on a realistic sched-
vapor metals (typically sodium and ule, and in realistic parameters.
sodium-oxide layers) on the surface of
low-iron and low flux-content clay that Wood has been used throughout history as a fuel source. It fuels campfires;
creates color bursts, typically in oranges, it heats homes; it is used as a fuel source in steam engines and steam turbines,
yellows, and browns. Flashing can also and of course, in wood-fired kilns. Wood, in addition to providing the heat
refer to reduced red iron patterns on energy to fire pottery, also produces the resulting wood ash that creates the
wood-fired surfaces that are fired down
in reduction. surfaces that you admire. The problem with this multi-purpose, regenerating,
and easily accessible fuel is that its heating byproduct, wood ash, is caustic.
Fly Ash: Light ash with incredibly small
particle sizes, created when wood burns.
Yes, small amounts of it are good for your garden as a potassium source, but
wood ash is created in such large amounts on a global scale that significant
Wadding: A mixture of half EPK kaolin
efforts have been made to find creative uses for the caustic waste product,
and half alumina hydrate used to
elevate ceramics off of shelves during most successfully including additive properties in concretes.1, 2
atmospheric firings. This is an opportunist’s dream: A waste product, wood ash, is responsible
Wood Ash: The mineral byproduct of
for creating some of the nicest ceramic art surfaces in history. Several logic
burning wood, which is primarily whiting, jumps down the road and one can envision the creation of a wood fire-emu-
silica, and metal, alkaline, and alkaline lated surface from a cone 6, electric firing (1, 2). With the caretaking and use
earth oxides. of a wood kiln existing as one of the most time- and labor-intensive practices
Wood Firing: The process of firing out there, we have room for better living through chemistry for potters who
ceramics solely with wood, such that the are obsessed with wood-ash surfaces.
ash produced creates patterns on the
surface of the works.
Wood ash can be categorized into two divisions: fly ash and bottom ash.
These vary slightly in chemical composition depending on the wood type
burned, the bark/fiber component used, and the location and mineral pro-
file surroundings of the wood harvested. What is rarely up for debate is the
weight or density of the ash and ash particle size. Fly ash is light with incred-
ibly small particle sizes, as it is created when wood burns and is carried and
deposited onto ceramic surfaces. The ash particles that are too large to be
carried up with the flame are retained as bottom ash and are roughly similar
in chemical composition. These are found in the bottom of your wood-kiln’s
fire box, fireplace, fire pit, etc. A larger particle size means a higher melting
temperature, as more heat must be
applied to a smaller surface-area-to-
volume ratio. With that in mind, we
know that to use this bottom ash we
must add some flux to the ash and
put it in a stable glaze application
system.
There are two of these recipes
already developed by Michael Frasca
and Val Cushing (shown on page
99). Based on these, you can test
and develop your own, as most ash
chemical analysis profiles will be
1 2 different.

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Cone 6 Electric Wood-Ash Ceramics seen in figures 1 and 2. After being fired, the remaining
shell will be CaO that will slowly pick up water vapor
Unfortunately, you can’t realistically go about creating
a sodium-vapor deposition atmosphere for flashing in an from the air, form Ca(OH)2, and crumble away.
electric kiln or create a side draft to make those gorgeous There are numerous parameters and variations to
wadding-directed flame patterns without destroying your change here and develop your own style of electric
elements and making the process horribly destructive and “wood ash” ceramics. To warn fellow potters, unwashed
costly; however, you can easily load a “wood-ash glaze” wood ash is caustic and gloves are needed when work-
into a spray gun and spray the patterns across your pot- ing with it. Be mindful to avoid breathing the dust in;
tery (already mounted on wadding and shells) from one wearing a dust mask or properly fitted respirator is good
direction. The glaze will be easily blocked and directed practice here. Wood ash must be sieved to a manageable
by wadding, akin to results from a side-draft or anagama particle size. Test your wood ash with various fluxes,
kiln. To match the palette of colors achieved from firing clays, and minimal amounts of colorants, as copper, iron,
in a wood-fire kiln, red iron oxide can be added to the and manganese are already there in trace amounts that
glaze. The adapted recipe (shown below), uses a very will contribute to color! As a hint, it is easy to add 2%
small quantity of soda ash to promote flashing of the sur- increments of Gerstley borate to flux your glaze more
face of Standard’s 182G clay body, which was recently and 2% increments of silica to reduce your flux.
labeled as vitrified at cone 6. Additionally, you may have
noticed that this clay flashes with the use of sodium feld-
Saving Time and the Environment
spars in oxidation. Some amount of sodium likely gasses Ultimately, the chemical profile of a wood-fired pottery
out of the glaze during firing, creating a subtle orange surface can be reproduced, even going beyond current
blush halo on bare clay where the glaze line terminates. methods and characteristics in color and color variety, on
It is somewhat traditional to place ceramics on shells a realistic schedule, and in realistic parameters. Addition-
with wadding supports when firing in wood kilns, as ally, by using this recipe and not one of pure materials
very different pattern orientations are obtainable and content for similar effects, you have begun to reduce
the shells help catch any glaze that starts to drip in their your ceramic carbon footprint and both reduced/reused
direction, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad. in the process. With roughly half of your glaze by weight
Additionally, shells are mostly calcium carbonate with consisting of waste wood-ash byproduct and no precious/
some salt impurities, or whiting. Upon being fired, even expensive metals needed for producing color, material
to cone 6, they will give off CO2 which will carry any mining footprints can be reduced while creating surfaces
volatilized sodium/salt content in the shell to the ceramic that look far more difficult and time-consuming to make
surface above it and create shell flashes in the work, as than they really are (3).

1 Chawan, 182G clay body, the author Ryan Coppage is currently

Flashing Wood-Ash Glaze, Chemistry Faculty at the University of
placed on shells, fired Richmond. He teaches a Japanese Ceramics and
to cone 6 in oxidation. 2 Glaze Design class at the Visual Arts Center of
Yunomi, 182G clay body, Richmond and still makes far too many pots.
Flashing Wood-Ash Glaze,
Check out www.ryancoppage.com.
placed on a shell, refired
from a dry wood firing to References:
cone 6 in oxidation. 3 Ocho- 1.Tarun R. Naik and Rudolf N. Kraus. A New Source of Poz-
ko, 621 Troy Woodfire clay zolanic Material. Concr. Int. 25, (2003).
body, Flashing Wood-Ash 2.Chowdhury, S., Maniar, A. & Suganya, O. M. Strength
development in concrete with wood ash blended cement and
Glaze, placed on a shell,
use of soft computing models to predict strength parameters.
3 fired in cone 10 reduction. J. Adv. Res. 6, 907–913 (2015).

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