Kiln & Firing

It takes two or three days to pack all the work into the kiln which is fired once or twice each year.

Once the door of the kiln has been bricked up, a small fire is started and kept going for twenty four hours or more in order to dry out the brickwork of the kiln and all the pots inside.

The next stage is to bring the whole kiln up to a temperature of 1000 degrees centigrade. At this point the fire is increased to generate a reducing flame (depriving the atmosphere of oxygen). During this period the embers build up in the firebox and under the side stoking ports to the point where many of the pots are completely covered in embers.

Technical 3

After three or four days of continuous stoking with wood, the temperature is increased to 1300 degrees.

The firing finished, the kiln is sealed and left to cool for four days when it is cool enough for the fired work to be removed.

All the pots are then sorted, cleaned and taken to be displayed in the showroom.


© Chris Lewis Ceramics