Bang!

[offcntr]

Reluctantly started glazing for my next firing yesterday. I've gotten spoiled by my unplanned week off, want to play in the studio or lie around reading. Unfortunately, deadlines wait for no one. The back room is still full of Sookjae's pots until this morning, so I do the easy stuff--elephant banks, one dip in clear glaze--and fussy stuff--dragons, multiple layers, lots of wax resist. Afterwards, I wax a bunch of teapots and casseroles for the morning, and look for other work to do.

The chimney looks a little loose, gaps between the bricks. During a firing, the bricks get hot enough to actually expand a few millimeters, push each other apart. As they cool, they don't move back, so each firing finds them a little further apart. Gaps between the bricks allow air to be pulled into the chimney, diluting the pressure drawing gasses from the kiln itself. Less draft means a less efficient, less controllable firing. More reduction when I don't want it, more fuel burned, more time wasted.

The solution? As the Hitchhiker's Guide once said, the secret is to bang the rocks together. Or in this case, bricks. All you need is a hammer and a scrap of 2x4--and a dust mask--to bang in from the corners. Back to back, side to side. Can't push back from the front, sadly, chimney's too close to the kiln wall, but I can still make the kiln visibly tighter by the time I'm through.

Before and after.