John Britt Workshop

John Britt presented a workshop on firing on July 25th. Indeed the ClayMatters workshop attendees were on fire or at least very warm in the un-air conditioned CPCC ceramic studio. John gave an overview of the clay firing and glaze firing cycles and then moved onto questions from the guild. He stressed the use of cones and tending to the firing process rather than trusting a programmed kiln. Kiln mechanisms often wear out or stick so a potters must observe what is going on. A good question concerned the difficulty in actually reading those cones when the kiln is hot. John says to use a high intensity flashlight in the spy hole. People asked about toxicity of glaze materials and John stressed the importance of having the kiln outside so potters can be away from poisonous fumes. To test pottery for toxicity he recommended a lab which could be contacted at www.BSCLAB.com. Questions about burners and bag walls, fire boxes and dampers were all answered. John maintained his enthusiasm and good humor the entire day. He closed with a smile and this thought about firing and glazes:"If a thing works, keep doing it".

Contributed by Dorothy Cole