Woodfiring / Continued from Page 4

technicians Linda Doherty and Jay MacLennann or with guest artists
such as Linda Christianson, Gordon Hutchens, Janet Mansfield, Paul
Davis and Jane Hamlyn.

Students purchase shares of space in the kiln and participate in the
firing. Alternatively, groups have rented the whole kiln with a small
amount of technical assistance provided.

‘The kiln has a Bourry firebox before the wood chamber, then the
flames go under the stack and then the floor of the second chamber
to cross-draught back to the flue. It fires with very little particulate.
‘Throwing a little water in the firebox with the wood helps to eliminate

any visible particulate. Flame from the chimney has not been an issue,
though perhaps it is a mild concern for passers by in the park.

‘The kiln is relatively easy to fire but has had a few complications. A
stack of alumina shelves softened and collapsed during a firing with
Gordon Hutchens and have been replaced with silicon carbide. At
the end of the fifteenth firing, the wood in the roof section around
the chimney was so dry it caught fire and thanks to quick thinking by
Linda Christianson it was put out without calling the fire department
or drowning the kiln. The city later stepped in to provide a three-layer
steel casing around the chimney at the cost of $12,000.

For further information on building, maintenance or firing of the
Shadbolt Ombu kiln contact Linda Doherty linda.doherty@burnaby.
ca or Jay MacLennan jay.maclennan@burnaby.ca.

am ail . i F —

Firing the Ombu kiln with Janet Mansfield.

a
RPOTTE R.’S
DREA RA?!

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supplies needs.

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Tel: 604.244.3734

Store Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm

COLUMBIA Potters Guild of BC Newsletter - November 2008 5