Soda Firing 11-5-25
This will be our 26th Kiln Firing. Follow along with the firing as I update this page on the hour.
Cones in our cone packs 012, 010, 04, 1, // 4, 5, 6, 7
The weather is swirly. Leaves are blowing, skies are grey and somewhat rainy. The bag wall was rebuilt betweeen the last firing. I ground down the kiln floor in an effort to have a more stable start for the new bag wall. It is four courses high with less bricks in the front to see if we can get more heat in the bottom front of the kiln.
This is our last community firing for 2025! About 1/2 the kiln is full of Anika’s RCC Classes’ artwork. And 1/2 is full of community artwork. Everything brought to the studio made it into the kiln : )
Kiln Log:
I will log at the top of the hour the kiln temperature, gas pressure, damper, and notes pertaining to the firing.
6:00am - 50ºF/ 50ºF (Top/ Bottom Temperatures)
North burner lit while I rig the south burner.
The evening before the other selonoid valve did not work and I wanted to be around for the beginning of the firing. Therefore, the kiln was started early morning and our firing schedule will all be later than other firings.7:00am - 480ºF/ 137ºF, South pilots/ burner lit. Both burners on candle flame, air low, damper 2”
8:00am - 625ºF/ 215ºF, Both burners on candle flame, air low, damper 2”
10:00am - 1011ºF/ 625ºF, Both burners on #0.5, air low, damper 2”
Soda introduction will likely be quite late. Maybe around 9pm? It’s only guessable at this point, but we are off to a much later start due to the burner issue. 🔥
11:00am - 1200ºF/840ºF. Both burners on #0.5, air low, damper 2”
12:00pm - 1344ºF/ 1053ºF. Both buners at #1.5, air medium, Damper 3”
1:00pm - 1369ºF/ 1192ºF. Both buners at #2, air medium, Damper 3.25”
2:00pm - 1513ºF/ 1374ºF. Both buners at #2.5, air medium, Damper 3.5”
012 down top, bending bottom. moving into body reduction3:00pm - 1636ºF/ 1543ºF. Both buners at #2.5, air medium-high, Damper 3”
010 bending bottom4:00pm - 1779ºF/ 1689ºF. Both buners at #3, air high, Damper 4”
010 flat top/bottom, 04 bending top5:00pm - 1882ºF/ 1820ºF. Both buners at #3, air high, Damper 4”
6:00pm - 1980ºF/ 1932ºF. Both buners at #3, air high, Damper 4.5”
Cone 1 is falling top and bottom7:00pm - 2061ºF/ 2034ºF. Both buners at #3, air high, Damper 4.5”
8:00pm - 2110ºF/ 2090ºF. Both buners at #3, air high, Damper 4.5”
8:30pm - 2135ºF/ 2116ºF. Both buners at #3, air high, Damper 4.5”
Cone five bending top, Cone 4 bending bottom. This is the most even firing in a while.9:00pm - 2156ºF/ 2134. Both buners at #3, air high, Damper 5”
Lubna and I sprayed in two rounds. Now I am waiting for the kiln to get a bit hotter before spraying more. We are spraying 2 gal of water with 4 pounds of soda ash disolved into the hot water.
We are counting 3 second bursts of water into each port.9:30-10:00 sprayed the rest of the soda with Stephanie and Anika!
Brought kiln back up to 2180 after each spray
10:00-10:15 reduction10:30 - shut off the kiln, cleared the kiln. Closed the damper
More soda spraying in about 15 minutes - 9:15-9:30pm
Front Stack
Back Stack
