Earth, air and fire....

This is the view of the top of the gas kiln that we fired today!
At this point, the inside of the kiln is at approximately 2200 degrees F....and is in 'reduction'.... which means, we have closed off all the areas where air gets into the kiln, essentially reducing the oxygen in the kiln! this creates an atmosphere that, in concert with the types of glazes we use, gives the pots some very beautiful colours!! for example, glazes that have copper oxide turn red in a reduction kiln, as opposed to green in an oxidation kiln!
The firing ended about 2 hours later... and we will open it tomorrow morning, when the kiln has come down to about 300 degrees - still pretty hot in there, but cool enough for us to take out the pots without them being damaged.