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the importance of cured wood/grunge/flash

updated thu 14 feb 02


Merrie Boerner on wed 13 feb 02

Now, wait a minute....I got that black grunge on my favorite firing out of
16. I have tried to reproduce the firing (not the grunge, but what happened
on the other pots). We had wild crystal growth and colors all over
unexpected places...even red. The ash pooled and was glassy in places, but
unfluxed in others. We had choked the mouse holes for most of the first 24
hours, then struggled like crazy to bring up temp for the next 12 hours. I
called the whole thing "choked"....probably over reduced.....but I don't
know. David, the weather was humid with thunderstorms....typical
Mississippi.....Nobody enjoyed it, so we haven't done it since....but, if
someone could tell me what happened, I'd do it next week ! The pots looked
like they had been anagama fired for 6 days. Well, maybe someday I will find
that magic again.
As to flash.....I thought it had more to do with the flow of the flame,
the ultimate temp, and the clay body than the ash deposit. Am I wrong ?!?
Ash and flash are two distinctly different things on my pots.