Devon Wood Firing Course
Photos from a magical week in Devon, learning how to wood and soda fire with Nic Collins and Sabine Nemet. We camped in their beautiful orchard, in Moretonhampstead, a town in the heart of Dartmoor National Park. A week spend talking pots, visiting local makers and craft galleries, swimming in the river Dart, delicious home cooked meals and evenings around the campfire.
We fired 3 kilns that week, Nics tunnel Kiln, Sabine’s wood fired Soda kiln and a small experimental kiln. Everyone on the course had brought along at least 50 bisque fired pots ready to fire.
For the soda firing we glazed our pots using Sabine’s beautiful slips, some of these were glazed with a single slip colour whilst others were left raw. Bicarbonate of soda was sprayed into the kiln for several hours at maturing stage, as the soda vaporises and travels with the flames through the kiln it lands on the pots, mixing with wood ash on their surface, creating flashes of different colours and textures, each side unique. They were intricately stacked in the kiln, fired for 36+ hours with wood and sprayed with soda. A very hot and painstaking process, beautiful results thanks to Sabine’s expert guidance!
Nics Tunnel kiln took 4 days to fire, we took shifts to keep the kilns stoked with wood throughout the night. A wonderful experience, listening to the fire crackle, keeping warm with cups of herb tea and setting the world to rights until the sun rose at dawn.
We also fired Nic’s experimental kiln - unglazed bottles were tumble stacked together with wadding mixed with chicken feed, which burns away letting the flames through. Some really interesting results and beautiful colours flashes.
