The Results

There they were, strewn out on the ground as if a shipping crate had just toppled and everything fell out intact. I approached cautiously as I was surprised by the appearance of many, and in awe of most. I was surprised by the turn out of the Danish White clay body which I showed in a previous post from another kiln firing.

On the left is the Danish White clay body from Joseph Sand's kiln firing, and on the right is the Danish White clay body from Sid Luck's kiln firing

I had never seen Danish White turn out like this! It was not as chocolaty as some of the other clay bodies, but it was toasty! It had some great flashing patterns from the flame though, and showed a good deal of surface variation. Everything was very shiny, and the Aurora clay body turned out very nicely. This made me think a lot about how long a kiln sits in reduction and how much variation there can be regarding reduction in such a large kiln. Reduction draws the iron that is in the clay body to the surface, which means the Danish White clay likely has more iron than I had previously thought!

Bottle made with Aurora clay body

Overall, I was very pleased. As I clean up the pots and get them photographed I will try to post more detailed results on my Facebook page.  I did make me take a mental note for what clay bodies to consider should I get the chance to fire in this kiln again. Or, it will give me the chance to try another white clay body to see how that turns out!
On another note, I had the opportunity to meet Anne Pärtna and Adam Landman from Blue Hen Pottery this past weekend. We talked about being gypsy potters and going from kiln to kiln and gaining an understanding of the variations of clay bodies and kilns from firing to firing. It was humbling and made me think about a more constructive approach to figuring out how to get pottery fired and just having reserved bisque ware on hand.