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Bristol
Studio
Noborigama 550
2005-Present
This
kiln has a total volume of 550 cubic feet, when factoring in bag walls, and
fireboxes. It has 250 cubic feet of shelving
area in the chambers. |
Photo by Tom Pollack |
Noborigama
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| Robert stoking the Salt Chamber (secondary firebox). |
Stoking door of main firebox in January 2007. |
Noborigama
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Christine, Robert & "wonder dog" Shino
with a fully loaded kiln prior to firing.
Six Week Firing
Cycle
Glazing a kiln load takes about 14 days plus
another 12 days to wad
and load the pots. |
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The actual firing time is 62 hours then 5 days of cooling before
unloading.
Unloading the kiln, grading then pricing pots adds another 18 days.
This kiln is fired twice a year, usually in the months of June and September. |
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Robert in front of loaded kiln with the doors bricked
up in October of 2010 |
Noborigama
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The
Noborigama 550
Firings take about 42 hours and burns
6
cords of wood.
The main firebox can take wood up to
6 ft long and burns both hard and
softwood, depending on the cycle.
The pots have been bisque fired
"first" in a gas kiln,
allowing for a faster start during the wood firing. The kiln was
designed so there is plenty of room to maneuver
in the chambers
when loading.
Each firing holds about 1500 pots,
including a dozen or more large planters and urns.
One of the reasons Robert built this kiln was to enable him to
fire
large pots.
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2005
First Chamber half loaded |
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2005
Starting to load the First Chamber |
Noborigama
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"Before" |
"After" |
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2006
Salt (second) Chamber -Before Firing
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2006
Salt (second) Chamber -After Firing
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Noborigama
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Watching the
chimney & blow holes,
helps determine the proper sequence of stoking. |
A section of the roof is taken off before each firing.
This allows smoke and heat to exit the building. |
Noborigama
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Stoker's wear a clear protective face
shield.
The main firebox consumes 80% of the wood in each firing,
the secondary firebox of the salt chamber takes the remainder.
Feed doors were built at eye level,
allowing stokers to stand upright when feeding wood. |
Keeping good "back pressure" in the salt chamber
for even heat distribution and nice salt effects. Robert adds one
pound of salt for every cubic foot
of loading space in the salt chamber. |
Noborigama
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The chambers are fired to cone 10,
and have about a one and a half cone variation, from top to bottom.
The majority of the work in the first chamber is glazed ware, a small number of pots
in the bag wall area are left unglazed
for full ash effect.
Most pots in the salt chamber
are left
entirely unglazed, for the full salt glaze effect, pieces that are glazed
have mostly celadon glazes, which are
enhanced by the sodium vapor. |
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| Flames entering the salt chamber are seem
coming in thru the flues from the first (glost) chamber. |
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Sodium vapors |
Noborigama
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The July 2005 Stoking Crew
Starting on Left
Lorin Alder, Christine & Robert, Debbie Altschwager, Gregg Galinski,
Josh Baisinger & Kim O'Connell. |
The firebox of the salt chamber
was designed with a waist high stoking port,
allowing Robert to add wood, while in an upright position. |
Noborigama
Toward the end of the firing
when
stoking the back chamber (salt),
a dragon trail rises from the chimney.
This Kiln is
fired twice a year, in June and September.
The process and resulting wares
were everything
that Robert had hoped to achieve.
Detailed
Construction
Photos |
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Noborigama
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Design Considerations This Kiln was designed with ergonomic considerations. The doors
were made tall enough for Robert to walk in without hitting his head.
It's 6.5 ft tall interior makes loading convenient and comfortable. Feed
holes were placed at chest height, so there is no back strain when stoking.
The loading area was designed around our 2ft x 2ft kiln shelves, making a
stacking pattern of two shelves wide by three shelves deep.
There is a 4 ft x 6 ft x 6ft loading area in each chamber.
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We refer to the kiln as having 250 cu ft of loading area
in the chambers,
not the total volume, which is significantly larger about
550 cf.
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05/25/11
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