Oxford Kilns

The two big kilns are both firing today, here are some shorts from the shift with .gladwin and this afternoon on the test kiln 🔥

Some self down oak saplings emerged from under the woodstack as we cleared the last of the logs for splitting. Rather than allowing them to get accidentally trampled, I’ve lifted them and will replant somewhere safer. I may bonsai one or two; and I’ve kept one for you as you were the first to notice them.

Big leap in the quality of wood stacking on the test kiln today.

And here’s the bigger kiln firing today, with Svend Bayer, Nick, and Lam on shift this afternoon 🔥

Back stacks half-loaded in the bigger kiln tonight. More tomorrow.

The in action today in pretty wet conditions, splitting for this and the forthcoming July firing in the anagama test kiln.

Two radically different schools of thought regarding wood stacking on show today at

The debate remained inconclusive.

(Neither was my work, I hasten to add.)

Loading two anagamas today: our 85th and 86th large kiln firings at .

There is always a curious stage before loading begins, when hundreds of pots are gathered together on tables and shelves, waiting for their place in the kiln. By this evening they will have disappeared into brick chambers, not to emerge again until after the firing.

Through a day of alternating sunshine and rain, Jim Gladwin and his anagama crew: Brigit Connolly, Lisa Sjukur, Nessa Grimes, Simon Horton and Ceri Elliston, who have been hard at work loading the test kiln, alongside the students on Svend Bayer’s woodfiring course.

It’s one of those days when every corner of Oxford Kilns seems to be busy: pots being glazed, shelves being packed, wood being moved, plans being adjusted to the weather, and kilns slowly filling.

For anyone wondering how people get involved in woodfiring here, there are many different routes in: courses, workshops, firing crews, volunteering, and longer-term projects. The details differ, but sooner or later they all seem to involve splitting and stacking wood.