some pots and a little kiln work

We are down to the last week of making pots! Though it still seems like the majority of our time is taken up with other projects. I finished these covered jars today:This picture was taken before the last layer of glaze was applied so you can see the decorations. The nearest two have a white slip decoration over which I'll apply the light green ash glaze-- hopefully it'll stay as transparent out of the wood kiln as it did the gas kiln. The back one with the rings and dots gets the black glaze.
I also worked more on the firebox of the first chamber:
The grates are large ceramic I-beams, which among my favorite of all the crazy bricks we found at the same site we got the large blocks. They are separated by two inches of brick standing upright. The idea is that the outside I-beams are fairly permanent as well as the upright bricks. The center bricks I'm planning on removing after every firing. This makes the kiln much easier to get in and out of. I'll probably separate the grates with an alumina/kaolin wadding. The two upper corners I left without grates, as I don't believe I'll be able to stoke there with the angles the way the are. I covered air inlet with bricks so the air is still forced up through the grates where the wood will be. I think I'll cover those bricks with a little bit of fiber insulation, then stucco over the top of that to make sure it stays airtight. I'll finish up with the best shot of the I-beams I could find. I'm pretty proud of them. It was pure luck that I ended up with them as David Stuemple, Jeffrey Dean, and Takuro Shibata were the ones who found them I just happened to get in on the deal. Still... pretty proud

Joe