Salt firing at Wobage


Salt glazing at Wobage The pots for this firing came from a throwing course run by Jermey Steward and a hand-building course run by Sarah Dunstan at Wobage Farm Workshops in August 2009. We had never done any salt glazing before but were very interested to learn more. This is a brief summary of the firing
Much of the salt glazing at Wobage is usually done in a larger wood-fired kiln however for reasons of time-scale and amount of work the gas-fired kiln was used. This shows the packed kiln before the wicket was built to close up the chamber
	In order to introduce some of the ash effects wood ash is blown into the kiln through the bung holes
Once at temperature salt crystals are introduced into the burner flame via a metal pipe connected to a copper funnel and controlled using a valve as shown
	At intervals test rings are removed form the kiln to check the development of the glaze. When they look OK the firing ceases
On cooling, removal of the wicket reveals the products of a successful firing. Some of these pieces are shown in close-up in the salt glaze gallery.