WOOD FIRING PROCESS: train kiln

The wood firing process at Community Arts Center, PA.
This is a brand new train kiln that was built in the summer of 2020, so this is the second time it has ever been fired. We spent the first day wadding and preparing our ceramics, and fired the kiln for approximately 40 hours. Each shift is about 6 hours. We had to continuously split wood as we went, and regularly stoked by putting wood in through the stoke holes and firebox (the chamber in the front).
The train kiln has three major areas: front, middle, and back. The temperature of these areas are measured with pyrometers. It is tricky getting all areas to reach even temperature. At some point the kiln was put into reduction, and you can see a lot of black smoke billowing out. We had reached over 2300 degrees F.
The kiln had a few days to cool, and we returned the next weekend to unload our goodies.
The ceramic pieces have been bisque fired prior, and many pieces had been glazed with high fire glazes. The combination of heat, falling wood ash, placement of pots, oxygen and elements, create various surfaces and textures on the pots.
The artists featured in the video (in order of appearance):
Ming Yuen Schat
Mark Tyson
Marianne Tebbens
Laura Demme
Vicky Smith
Anna Masciantonio

Please share or comment if you have questions and I will try to get back to you :)