What Happens to Pottery During a Woodfiring? | Full Process

Ceramics from this Wood Firing will be available in the shop on September 25. Join the mailing list for early access before the release: https://www.oyuceramics.com/mailing-list What happens to pottery during a woodfiring? This film follows a complete wood firing, from lighting the kiln at 4:30 AM to opening it three days later. The firing took place in central Poland, in an Olsen kiln, together with fellow potter Andrzej Bero. We usually fire this kiln twice a year, working in groups of two to four potters. This time, it was just the two of us. The kiln is known as a fast fire kiln, but we deliberately extended the firing to around 20 hours. We started before sunrise, gradually increased the temperature throughout the day, moved into reduction in the evening, and finished with a final heavy stoke before closing the kiln. The firing was carried out in reduction to cone 10, approximately 1280°C. Most of the glazes were Shino, ash glazes and celadons. After three days of cooling, we returned to open the kiln and see the results. The film documents the whole process: preparing and lighting the kiln, feeding the fire, the transition into reduction, the final stoke, and finally unloading the pots. Thanks to Andrzej for firing together.