New Kilns In Westmoore

Last month I stopped through Seagrove to make a few pots and catch up with some friends, some who have made nice progress on new kilns over the winter.

Below are four pictures of David Stuempfle’s new anagama, which is perpendicular to his older one. Our friend and master kiln builder Andres Allik came from Talin, Estonia to help David build the kiln. I regret that I missed seeing him during this recent visit. I met Andres a few years back when he assisted with building the Shigarki style noborigama designed by Japanese potter Hajimu Kato at STARworks Ceramics in Star, NC. I’ve never seen any mason as quick and precise Andres.

David’s new kiln is about 30′ long, but the taper and stepped up interior should make filling it more manageable than the old kiln. There should be a better flame pattern too since there will less empty space along the arch.

The biggest pots will be behind the grate in the middle, which theoretically can be used to increase air flow to the middle and back of the kiln for temperature gain or too burn down ember piles.

Note the mouse holes between the side stoking ports. These can also be used to increase air flow. A lot of my favorite wood-fired pots have a layered ash effect from building up embers and burning them down multiple times. Ideally these will help streamline that process.

In the picture above you can see that David’s already huge kiln shed has been augmented by Tony Luck and his crew.

Team Tony also did a beautiful job on Takuro and Hitomi Shibata’s new kiln shed pictured below. Takuro and Hitomi moved to Seagrove in 2005 from Shigaraki, Japan. Takuro runs STARworks Ceramics, a non-profit organization created by Central Park NC. Aside from having an array of materials available for the surrounding pottery community, STARworks Ceramics also processes local clay bodies through a series of refurbished industrial machines. Recently Hitomi has been conducting workshops in the studio space adjacent to the supply room.

The new kiln is located at their house on Busbee Rd neighboring Ben Owen III and Chris Luther. Takuro and Hitomi have a done a great job documenting their building process on their Studio Touya blog.

There is a nice sized anagama chamber in the front followed by a large chamber and a secret chamber. In order to meet a deadline they have already fired the second chamber with some nice results. I’m sure they are eager to finish and fill the entire kiln now. It should be noted that this kiln was also blessed with the sweat of a certain Estonian. I’m confident that Takuro and Hitomi have many successful firings to come.