Pots and Skeletons in the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) Cave, Belize.
A visit into the deep, dark ATM Cave in Western Belize near San Ignacio. All about our adventure seeing the archeological artefacts, skeletons, pottery and incredible stalactites and stalagmites of the cave.
Lauren and I recently went to Belize for two weeks. I was surprised by the wild mix of cultures there—I encourage you to read about the country's history here. Belize today has Creole, Maya, Garifuna, and Mestizo cultures; there are also Mennonites who are of German descent. Every bus we went on blared out a mixture of reggae and calypso music. The staple food is rice and beans with Jamaican style jerk chicken (we ate this a lot). Queen Elizabeth II is still the symbolic head of state, and sits on the currency, but Belize became an independent nation in 1981. The people we met seemed grateful for Britain's continued involvement, especially in fending off the Guatemalan government's threats (it has been trying to claim Belize since its independence).
Photo credit: https://letsgetdealstoday.com/actun-tunichil-muknal-cave-a-journey-into-an-ancient-mayan-underworld/
On May 12 (Lauren's 29th birthday, no less) we decided to go underground, into the depths of the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) Cave in Western Belize, near San Ignacio. Actun Tunichil Muknal translates as "Cave of the Stone Sepulcher." If you are thinking about Indiana Jones already, then just wait. The ATM is an hour's drive from San Ignacio, or 45 minutes from a fabulous hostel we stayed at called Lower Dover (hands down the best place we stayed and tastiest meals we had on our trip). You pass through a small village called "Tea Kettle" on the way, which made me inordinately happy. Once you park up, it's about an hour trek through the jungle, including two rivers which you have to swim across. This means that you can only access the cave certain times of the year. We saw several snake tracks crisscrossing the trail en route, as well as a massive tarantula in a tree hollow.
Photo credit: http://discovermagazine.com
Once we reached the cave mouth, there was a last opportunity to pee and soak up a little Vitamin D before plunging into the turquoise waters. Once inside the initial opening, you are mostly wading though knee to chest-deep water all the way through the cave (thankfully the water wasn't too cold). I found all of these pictures on the internet by the way, as we weren't allowed cameras in the cave. For good reason, I might add—in 2012 an ancient skull was broken by a tourist dropping his camera on it.
Photo credit: https://www.cahalpech.com/blog/5-weird-facts-about-actun-tunichil-muknal-cave/
Photo credit: http://www.vengavalevamos.com/atm-cave-belize-maya-mysteries/
The cave was rediscovered in 1989, and opened to the public in 1998, although archeological research continued until 2003. Our guide told us that for the Mayan people, caves were seen as a liminal space between life and death, an underworld. You can believe it when you see the gigantic stalactites hanging from the ceilings, bigger than most church organs. We know now how these were formed—through the slow process of calcium carbonate eroding from limestone above and dripping down into the cave below. But to people hundreds of years ago, these structures must have seemed supernatural.
Photo credit: http://resort-blog.grandcaribebelize.com/wp-content/uploads/ATM-Caves-3.jpg
Photo credit: http://discovermagazine.com/2014/dec/15-cave-of-the-crystal-maiden
At a certain point, after swimming, scrambling, and squeezing your way deep in the cave, (over 3km) you get to a large boulder and steep ledge (pictured on the right). Our guide helped us climb over it, into the entrance to the inner cavern, where the majority of the archeological finds have been made.
We were instructed to leave our shoes behind, before entering a vast chamber. The room felt like a great hall, or a cathedral, and led into several other large chambers. As we walked through, our guide pointed out the multitude of human bones scattered around.
The cathedral is pictured below. You can see how the water has flown through the chamber, forming the undulating pattern on the floor. We were told to walk on the ridges as these are harder deposits of calcium carbonate, and the troughs between them are where many artefacts have been found.
Photo credit:http://discovermagazine.com/2014/dec/15-cave-of-the-crystal-maiden
Photo credit: https://www.cahalpech.com
Photo credit: https://barefootservicesbelize.com/atm-cave-in-belize/
We know that human sacrifices were performed in the cave. Fourteen complete skeletons have been found to date; seven adults and seven children, and many more partial remains. Most were killed with blunt blows to the head. It is believed that these were ritualistic killings performed in an attempt to please the gods during a particularly brutal drought. Geologists have found that there was a 60-year period preceding 811AD during which almost no rain fell in the region. It's estimated that Belize had a population of about two million people prior to that time; now, it has fewer than 400,000. The landscape was likely much more deforested than it is today, and geologists surmise this may have had an impact on the sudden lack of rainfall. A more detailed discussion of this history can be found here.
Whilst other factors such as disease could have been involved, the severe drought was likely the main cause of the collapse of the Mayan civilisation. Imagine entering the cave during that time to find water still percolating through the ceiling and dripping all around. You can see why they equated the cave with a life-giving force.
One particularly gruesome skeleton is the "crystal maiden"; she was an 18-year-old whose heart was removed (or at least that's what it seems like as two of her vertebrates are broken apart). Over time, she has become covered in beautiful, fine sparkling calcium carbonate deposits. This photo doesn't do it justice. I couldn't help but think of Indiana Jones in there—it was surreal, and there are few barriers between you as a tourist and these crystalline bones.
Photo credit: www.jmbelizetravel.com
Photo credit: tripadvisor
Whilst these skeletons are hard to accurately date, we do have other human evidence left behind. Pots! Of course! Only a fool goes wading into the depths of the earth without a picnic. I had heard before we went that there were pots down in the cave, and that was a main reason for going, but I was not prepared for the amount of pots or the scale of them. There were shards of pots all over the main hall, I'm not exaggerating. Archeologists have found and cataloged over 14,000 artefacts down there. They have been dated to between AD250-909, mostly in the latter end of that age range. This supports the hypothesis of links between the drought and ritual use of the cave as the Mayan civilisation was collapsing.
Mostly the pots were in clusters, around the sooty remnants of fire pits and fireplaces in the large chambers. It almost seemed like campsites left by unruly teenagers, empty beer bottles strewn around for someone else to clear up.
Photo credit: http://www.duplooys.com/caves/
Photo credit: https://internationalliving.com/stalactites-and-skeletons-in-belizes-mayan-underworld/
I was fascinated by the pots, not least because of the size of some of them, and how thin the wall thickness of many of them were. They are really nicely made—wood fired, earthenware pots. Archeologists have tested them and found residues of food on the insides.
Having barely scraped my way into the cave, I can't imagine how they got these pots full of corn or rice or other supplies into the cave in one piece.
Photo credit: www.jmbelizetravel.com/actun-tunichil-muknal.html
Quite a few of the pots were complete and in very good condition. We saw them placed all around the chamber, often underneath stalactites, presumably to collect water. We tried some of this water at one spot (upon our guides suggestion) and found it quite delicious—filtered through the earth and limestone.
Photo credit: www.dontforgettomove.com/exploring-atm-caves-in-belize/
Many of the pots appear to have been intentionally broken and are marked with "kill holes," suggesting that they were used in sacrificial rituals, too. Here is an article about kill holes—basically they are pots with intentionally pierced holes in them, though we're not entirely sure why. It would seem silly to me to carefully juggle pots and a lit torch into the depths of the cave, only to smash them, but hey, I'm a potter and not a shaman.
I couldn't believe we were allowed to be so close to the artefacts. Unscrupulous individuals could easily take pieces of pots out without anyone noticing. Our guide told us of one person he took in who came out rattling, pockets filled with shards. They need a better protection policy.
Look at the beautiful surface and rim on this pot:
Photo credit-Kate Brunton: http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/photos/2338436/
Photo credit: www.islandexpeditions.com/belize-vacations-blog/5-highlights-ultimate-adventure-trip-belize
Most of the pots were large, round storage and cooking vessels but there were a few other shapes around, too, such as these bowls:
Photo credit: www.cahalpech.com
Photo credit: https://eternalarrival.com/travel-blog/north-america/belize/atm-cave-actun-tunichil-muknal/
Possibly the most curious pot in the cave is this one (to the right and below). This monkey decoration has only been found on four pots, located at various sites across Central America.
I was not able to find much information about these monkey vessels—if anyone knows, let me know!
Well, that's all for now. We got out of the cave alive, dried off, and had a delicious lunch of rice, beans, salad, and plantains. Hope you can sleep tonight!
All About Ceramics Crazing: Why Glazes Craze And How To Avoid Crazing
At the Hewitt Pottery we have been developing some glazes using local granites with a high felspatic content. The glazes are beautiful and sparkly but we have experienced some issues with crazing, so during our recent snowstorm, I spent some time reading through books and looking online to see what I could glean. I wanted to share the sum of what I have learned here in three sections: 1) Why is crazing a concern?, 2) Why causes crazing?, and, 3) What can we do to eliminate crazing?
1) Why is crazing a concern?
Crazing can be an attractive feature of a pot and is often called "crackle" when intentionally used, such as on this tea bowl: |
| Intentional crazing, or "white crackle" glaze, on a tea bowl by Richard Brandt. |
There are reasons why crazing is not ideal for functional pottery, however. Crazed pots may leak if the clay body is not totally vitrified, and potentially be unsanitary as bacteria can grow in the cracks. Structurally, crazing is also an issue as Michael Cardew points out in Pioneer Pottery, (p. 84), "It has been proved that glaze fit has a major effect on strength."
Cardew describes an experiment (recorded by Bettany and Webb in the British Ceramic Society's publication Transactions. Vol 40, p. 316), in which rods of porcelain are treated three different ways: some are left unglazed, some are dipped in a crazing glaze, and some in a sound glaze. The results after firing showed the comparative strengths of the rods in the proportions 40 : 100 : 160 (crazed : unglazed : sound). The results indicate that "vitreous ware with a non-crazing glaze may be three to four times stronger than ware which is crazed." Furthermore, a properly glazed pot will have a greater resistance to thermal shock. As a potter engaged in producing functional pottery, strength and resistance to thermal shock are important qualities, especially when one considers the competition of industrially produced wares.
The ideal, as Daniel Rhodes puts it in Clay and Glazes for the Potter (p. 255), for maximum durability and fit, "a glaze should be in slight compression over the body." See the kitten sweater below... it should be just a little bit snug for optimal cuteness.
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| This is Mango (not our cat, unfortunately). |
2) What causes crazing?
John Colbeck (Pottery Materials, p. 61) says, "Crazing occurs when, on cooling, a body does not shrink more than the glaze." In other words, the glaze shrinks more than the body. It's as if Mango the kitten jumped into a tumble drier wearing her knitted sweater; the sweater would likely shrink more than her body and it would be quite a squeeze. This analogy doesn't totally work... but I wanted to include a picture of a cat in a sweater.If you have a glaze that shrinks less than the clay body, then you can experience shivering, although this is more rare than crazing. {Side note from Michael Cardew on the difference between these defects: "It is always easy to tell the difference between shivering and crazing. Sometimes mild shivering may look like crazing, but the cracks are not on the surface of the glaze only; they can be seen right through the body" (p. 86).}
Crazing is not related to the shrinkage rate of the clay. As Rhodes points out (p. 255), all of the shrinkage happens when the wares are heating up. During the firing, whilst the pots are red hot and the glazes are still wet and molten, they fit the pots perfectly. It is upon the cooling of the kiln and the contraction of the wares that cracks form. The key point is that "some materials expand more when heated, and therefore contract more when cooling." This is called the coefficient of expansion. He goes on to say, "The cause of crazing, then, is always to be found in a high coefficient of expansion (and therefore contraction) in the glaze relative to the expansion of the body." I have copied out Rhodes' list (from English and Turner) of the expansion coefficients of some common materials used in ceramics:
We can see from this list that oxides vary wildly in their coefficients of expansion: "Silica expands less than one eighteenth as much as sodium. Clay, being made up of alumina and silica, has a medium expansion; but some glazes, especially those high in soda, may have a high expansion" (p.255). So it's clear that your clay body and glazes will vary in their coefficients of expansion depending on the differing oxides present in them. Going into the science of this a bit deeper, we arrive at the formation of a substance called cristobalite.
A Bit About Cristobalite:
John Colbeck explains (p. 62):
- "Crazing needs to be considered in relation to clay bodies as well as glazes. The important factor to remember here is the role of cristobalite. Cristobalite, a crystalline form of silica, undergoes a contraction about 22°C (far below the temperature where glazes are molten). Cristobalite is formed quite slowly, at temperatures above 1,020°C, from the free silica which exists in bodies. It is not found in glazes because the free silica, whether high or low, react with fluxes to form the glaze solution. Thus bodies in which cristobalite has developed contract at 220°C as they cool, where glazes do not. It is this contraction of bodies which helps in the prevention of crazing by putting the cooling glaze under compression. Thus to diminish the tendency of a glaze to craze, any steps which assist the formation of cristobalite."
This leads nicely on to the important bit -- how to adapt glazes to reduce or eliminate crazing.
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| Two of my mugs from firing 96 at the Hewitt Pottery. If you look closely, you can see the crazing. |
3) What can we do to eliminate crazing?
Adapting your clay body:Conventional wisdom suggests that adding silica to your clay body is the first port of call. Cardew says you can increase silica in either body or glaze, but that it tends to be more effective in the body.
Colbeck says you can assist the formation of cristobalite by adding silica to the body because this "will increase the free silica in it which is available to form cristobalite" (p. 62).
Rhodes agrees but warns, "bodies that contain more than about 25% of silica may be hard to fire without dunting or cracking." Conversely, bodies with "less than about 10% of silica... may be expected to be difficult to fit with glazes" (p. 256). There is clearly a sweet spot to be found with the amount of silica, and subsequently cristobalite, in your clay body. In A Potter's Book, Bernard Leach recommends 5-15% cristobalite in a body. He says this is enough to produce the cristobalite squeeze, "which exerts a centripetal compression on a glaze which tends to prevent crazing" (p.176). He notes that cristobalite can be cheaply acquired as powdered silica-brick waste.
Leach goes on, "the addition of powdered flint is usually the first alteration to a body to prevent crazing, but more important than an increase in quantity is a decrease in the particle size of silica." This is something that none of my other sources mentioned, but it is worth considering. He also mentions the option of increasing the cristobalite content using talc as "it acts as a catalyst and assists the transformation of silica" (p. 176). He also makes a distinction over vitrification; "in non-vitrified bodies the amount of flux should be increased and in non-vitrified bodies the reverse is true. Finally, in bodies which contain ball clay and china clay, the former should be increased, the latter decreased" (p. 177).
This advice is all well and good if you have the option of changing your clay body easily and testing it extensively, but many potters do not have this luxury. Changing the formulation of the glaze may be an easier option, or the only option.
Adapting your glaze:
The aim here is to reduce the coefficient of expansion of the glaze (to stop it contracting as much on cooling). This means adding oxides with low coefficients of expansion and decreasing some of the materials with higher coefficients of expansion. As Rhodes points out, this can be tricky "without altering the maturing temperature or appearance of the glaze" (p. 255). He recommends:
1) increasing the silica
2) decreasing the feldspar
3) decreasing materials containing potash/soda
4) increasing the boric oxide
5) increasing the alumina
Leach also recommends increasing the silica content and possibly borax or raw boracalite (B2O3), and/or decreasing the alkaline content of the glaze.
Thinning down the glaze may also help reduce or eliminate crazing; as Colbeck says "thick layers of glaze are always more prone to crazing than thin" (p.62).
The website/database Digital Fire has some excellent articles on the subject. It recommends decreasing the potassium oxides and sodium oxides present in your glazes: these are typically found in potash feldspar, soda feldspars, nepheline syenite and frits. The issue with reducing your these is that the glaze may be less inclined to melt, so then you have to add some more flux and these adjustments may alter the look of the glaze. Digital Fire also recommends increasing your magnesium oxide. Talc and dolomite are excellent sources of MgO and purportedly effective at high temperatures, (for cone 6 you may want to use frits like Fusion F69 or Ferro 3249). They show one test where an addition of 10% talc helped eradicate crazing.
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| One of my teapots from Firing 96 at the Hewitt Pottery. The crazing is particularly obvious where the glaze is thick around the lid. |
Final notes:
You can tell how much your glaze does not fit your body by looking at the cracks: a network of lots of small cracks means you have greater stress than a few larger cracks. It is easier to fix the latter as you might expect.Rhodes also posits that over firing can cause crazing, "if the firing has proceeded to the point where the free silica in the body has entered into glassy melts with the other materials, it does not go through any crystalline change upon cooling and so does not lose volume and put the glaze into compression" (p. 256).
Another issue can be removing pots from the kiln whilst they are still too hot: the kiln must be under 200°C. The heat shock of opening the kiln too soon or even putting wares atop of an oven/stove can induce crazing.
This post has been about primary crazing, but there is also such a thing as secondary crazing. This can happen with bodies which are not fully vitrified. Colbeck says porous bodies can "subsequently absorb water, causing the body to expand fractionally" (p. 62) which can craze a previously uncrazed glaze, months or even years after coming out of the kiln.
I don't want to end on a downer, but Daniel Rhodes does say that in glazes with a high content of "soda or potash in the form of feldspars, frits or raw alkalines," it may be "impossible to correct crazing without completely altering the character of the glaze" (p. 255). Our celadon glazes do contain a very high proportion of feldspar so the exercise could be tricky. It is worth a shot though -- especially if you have the ability to adjust your clay body as we do. I plan to test various methods and see what works best.
I hope some of this was helpful. Like a wise karate master from the movies, I leave you with these simple words...
Mark Hewitt Pottery Spring 2016 Kiln Opening, Firing Kay
This was a particularly exciting firing as the kiln was mostly filled with experimental glazes made using local materials. It was also Adrian's last firing as an apprentice at the Hewitt pottery. The firing went very smoothly and our expectations were mostly met by the results. The celadons and tenmokus were particularly dazzling, whilst the shinos proved a little trickier; some came out fantastically but others crawled. Overall we had some lovely results and a good sale. People responded well to the new glazes. At the end of the post I have included some pictures of my pots taken at Adrian's house with his flowtone backdrop. Personally I prefer seeing pots with a natural background such as a barn door or a grassy knoll, but in order to build a portfolio I am trying to document in a more professional manner.
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| Big pot by Mark Hewitt. This one is called "Mr Softie" |
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| Empty kiln (apart from all the wads!) |
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| Big pot by Mark Hewitt. I love the shape of this one. |
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| Detail of the glass drip on this pot. |
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| This one sold before the sale began. |
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Big pot by Mark Hewitt
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| Marbled plate by Mark Hewitt. |
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| Two part vase by Mark Hewitt. Regretting not snapping up this one-it was a super second. |
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| Some little espresso cups I made. |
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| Adrian and Patrick Rademaker (visiting up from Florida) stole my camera and blessed me with this picture of themselves, plus ruder versions! |
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| Tableware by Mark Hewitt. |
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| Jug/pitcher and mugs by Adrian King. |
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| We have to write a little something for each kiln opening. Here's mine. |
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| Droopy bellied sawanaky with shino glaze. |
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| Cider jar/jug by Adrian King. |
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| Celadon teapot by Adrian King. |
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| White glazed vase with finger wiped decoration by Adrian King. |
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| Heron scraffito tankard by Adrian King. |
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| Two carbon trapped shino tankards by Adrian King. |
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| Vase/wine vessel by Mark Hewitt. Ash glaze. |
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| Celadons! Oh glorious celadons, by Mark Hewitt. |
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| Big fat jar by Mark Hewitt. Tenmoku glaze. |
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| Tableware by Mark Hewitt. |
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| Nice tenmoku jar by Mark Hewitt. |
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| Two part vases by Mark Hewitt. |
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| A couple of my mugs. They have gone up from $9 to $15 this firing! Quite the increase! |
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| Rows of my pots. |
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| Casserole with lizard scraffito decoration. |
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| The full inscription reads "Bernie is boss." If I could vote in the elections here it would definitely be for Bernie! |
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| Display of my pots before the punters arrived. |
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| Shooter, sawanaky and honey jar hanging out together. |
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| Two of my tumblers. I like how the one on the right curves in at the top: I was aiming for this torpedo like shape. |
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| Covered dish by Adrian King. You can use the lid as a bowl to eat from too. |
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| I met this lovely lady at La Meridiana whilst she was on Mark's course. It is fun to catch up at kiln openings! |
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| Some of Adrian's platters. |
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| A rather handsome umbrella stand by Mark Hewitt. |
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| A couple of my smaller casserole dishes. |
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| Two part vase, celadon glaze. |
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| Two part vase, tenmoku glaze over red slip decoration. |
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| Sawanaky jar, shino gaze over red slip decoration. |
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| Sawanaky jar, celadon glaze over red slip banding and scrafitto marks. |
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| Vase, celadon glaze over red slip banding. |
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| Two part vase, tenmoku glaze over red slip decoration. |
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| Tumblers, tenmoku on the left, shino on the right |
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| Barrel mugs, celadon glaze over red and white slip decorations. |
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| Small bud vase, tenmoku glaze. |
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| Shot glasses/shooters, celadon glaze with red slip dots under. |
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| Large casserole dish, celadon glaze over red slip dots and lines. |
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| Large three handled casserole with fish decoration, tenmoku glaze. |
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| Small casserole dish, albany slip over red slip decoration. |
Firing Kay, Mark Hewitt Pottery, Spring 2016
By 9am we were concentrating on the third chamber. Mark manned the ship, slowly transitioning our stoking pattern from feeding both chambers two and three to just three. Adding a little extra air by keeping the fire box doors slightly ajar helped the burn. By 12:30pm we were done, much to everyone's surprise. We had planned on going until midnight if necessary, and had cut enough wood to do so.
The relief of being done early had us all in high spirits and we enjoyed some cold beverages, a few loop-de-loops on the rope swing, and some marvelous coconut crust quiche that Carol had made. Mark sprayed down the rafters of the kiln to cool them off, we clammed her up and slid in the damper. A glorious collection of bees made their hive in the red clay earth near the kiln, seemingly unaware of all the activity around them. All in all the firing was a very smooth affair. We got the kiln hot, really hot, all over--in the front of the third chamber the cones were obliterated. The test rings we pulled out looked good too.
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| Reduction. |
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| Adrian checking the cones in the back of the first chamber. |
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| Adrian and Dustin stoking the firebox. |
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| Exactly where we want to be. |
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| Before we started stoking this chamber. |
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| Evan was down visiting me from Burlington, VT. I roped him into helping out with the firing. |
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| Stoking the firebox of chamber 2. |
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| View of the kiln from the side. |
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| Firebox door. |
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| You can see the reflection on the bellies of the pots in there. |
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| Test rings. Glazes looking good. Clay nicely cooked. |
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| More test rings. |
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| Stillman stoking into the middle of chamber 2. |
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| This little guy was hanging out on the wood stack. |
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| Mark, Adrian and I all incised quite a few lizards on our pots this time. There are so many lizards around the Hewitt pottery! |
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| The kiln from afar. |
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| Mark and Evan clamming up the main fireboxes. |
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| Working hard. |
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| Evan stoking chamber 3 firebox. |
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| These look like ant excavations but are actually made by small bees. |
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| Bee art. |
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| The firing squad enjoying a beverage after the kiln was done. From top left: Sam Thompson, Me, Mark Hewitt, Dustin Fowler, Adrian King. Bottom row from left: John Svara, Evan Weiss and Stillman Browning-Howe. |
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| Stoking the very back of the kiln; heavy reduction going on! |
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| You can just see some fat bellies here. |
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| During the cool down the color of the pots goes from bright orange to red. |
Springtime Kiln Loading. Hewitt Pottery 2016.
But enough of our springtime woes; I have lots of pictures to put up of our recent kiln loading. This week we are firing Mark's new kiln (built in 2009). It is the 11th time: the firings are stamped alphabetically so we're up to firing 'Kay.' We had a lot of bisque-ware to glaze due to all the experimental glazes we have formulated, so glazing took us a few days, but then the loading went pretty fast. Having an extra pair of hands has really helped. Stillman Browning-Howe has been working with us for the last few months, mostly laboring, as he will replace Adrian as a full-on apprentice when he leaves in a few weeks. So it's been like having three apprentices rather than two. He has helped a great deal with all of the laborious tasks needed to get ready to fire, like cutting wood, grinding kiln shelves, moving wood, mixing clamming, and rolling wads.
We stacked the kiln quicker than anticipated so now have extra time to fire. I am on the night shift tonight which will be a pretty slow easy rise in temp, then we'll take turns tomorrow bringing it up to top temp by midnight. Saturday is when we really fire it off and work the temperature back through the second and third chambers. Here are some loading snaps:
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| Mark-ware |
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| Fat jars and two part vases |
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| More of Mark's pots |
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| Some of our glazes |
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| One of Adrian's platters. Love this decoration. |
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| Some of my casserole dishes. I was pretty pleased with how these took shape and am excited to see them fired. |
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| Casserole from above |
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| Adrian-ware |
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| All lined up and ready to go |
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| The kiln. Expectant. |
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| First row of shelves in the back chamber |
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| We raise them off the floor to allow for ash and ember build up |
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| Cones! These bend at specific temperatures to show you how the firing is going. We fire to cone 12 which is over 2400 degrees F. |
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| Mark's pots ready for wadding |
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| What next? |
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| Starting the back stack. This is much more awkward. |
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| Back chamber of the kiln done. The path down the middle is for stoking thin strips of wood. |
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| This is where Adrian and I spent several days glazing all of our pots. |
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| Stillman; master wad and coil roller! |
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| Mark and Adrian carrying precious cargo. |
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| Big ribbon pot by Mark Hewitt. |
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| Stillman squeezing through a tiny gap to help pull the last big pot into the kiln. |
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| Its in! Relieved faces—we didn't chip or break any big pots despite the tight squeeze. |
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| Ready to be bricked in |
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| Side view of the second and third chambers |
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| One of Mark's medieval pitchers from the salt kiln. We were using this as a water jug during loading—slightly excessive as it holds about two gallons! |
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| The beginning of stacking the front chamber |
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| Pitchers, jars and small pots ready to be put in |
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| Carrying boards into the kiln |
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| Starting on the front stack of the front chamber |
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| One of the final shelves goes on |
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| Almost done! |
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| We have a good amount of wood ready |
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| Firebox door |
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| We decided to build a bag wall to prevent the flame rushing under the shelves straight into the second chamber. |
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| Bricking up the third chamber |
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| View of the kiln all clammed up and ready |
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| The kiln gods are watching |
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| Firing Kay |
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| The kiln is lit: we start with gas up to 600 degrees F. |
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| The beast awakens! |
Test Firing Results!
Below are a smattering of pots, not necessarily the best of the bunch, just a sampler to show some of the different results. It was getting dark when I took these snaps so the colours aren't as bright as in real life, but anyway first up here are some of mine...
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| Shino yunomi. |
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| Celadon yunomi on left, ash glaze on right. |
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| Ash glaze sppon holder on left and celadon on the right with red slip trailed under. |
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| Celadon barrel mug with red slip dots, ash glaze dipped over on the rim. |
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| Shino tumblers with iron and manganese slips trailed under. |
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| Albany slip vase over wiped red slip. |
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| I am actually unsure of what glaze combo this is. Will have to ask Adrian! |
| Various mixing bowls. |
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| Celadon mixing bowl with red slip decoration. |
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| Small bowl with nuka glaze over red slip swirls. |
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| Pair of tumblers with white glaze swishes over celadon (plus 1% iron oxide). |
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| Same as the tumblers above. |
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| Large platter with one glaze on top of another with wax resist rings. |
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| Celadon vases. These look super in the sub: a shiny light translucent blue. Very nice. |
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| Celadon serving bowls with red slip trailed and dotted underneath. |
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| Celadon over sgraffito decoration. |
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| Celadon over red slip. |
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| Ash glaze stein. Look close and you can see the head and arms of a sgraffito lizard. |
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| This glaze is called Rocky 12, believe it or not. |
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| Close up of the Rocky 12 surface. |
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| Celadon serving bowl with red slip dots under. |
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| Getting ready for the sale. |
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| Four medium sized pots from the salt kiln, out on sale this weekend. |
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| Big unfired pots. |
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| Ribbon vase (unfired). I'm excited to see how this one turns out. |
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| Fish stew anyone? |