Possibly fill the barrel with sawdust and pots i.e.with pots evenly
dispersed in the sawdust. Pack the sawdust in reasonably well. Make some
holes around the sides and in the lid of the barrel (a metal lid of some
sort will be necessary), cover the top with a good number of knotted sheets
of newspaper to form a layer, and light these. When they have burned for a
few minutes, and the sawdust is going, put the lid on and leave for 24 - 48
hours. Check periodically to ensure it is still burning, and re-light if
necessary.

Your other option is to make a wood burning kiln out of house-bricks. You
will need some kiln shelves - but these are cheaper than an entire kiln. I
can look out some instructions on how to make such a kiln if you would
like - it's really not that hard, and it's great fun.

Let me know. Dom (England)
"Stelios Zacharias" wrote in message
news

Dear all,

I was fortunate enough to have been at a school in the UK with an
active ceramics teacher, some wheels and two kilns, and got
bitten by the bug. Unfortunately, everything was a little too
pre-chewed, meaning that I never had to collect and prepare clay
and oxides or mix my own glazes.

Now that I am on my own, I am finding it a little daunting, but
willing to go for it.

After school, while on military service up in the mountains
bordering Bulgaria, I managed to collect some clay in the wild
from a river, dried it out on the roof of the barracks, and made
some pots. These I put in a big empty petroleum style barrel (the
metal ones which always seem to hang around ports waiting to be
driven into and explode in "action" films). I filled this up with
dried grasses and sticks and torched it.

I doubt the temperature got very high, and I only kept the fire
going about half an hour. The pots that did not explode came out
harder than they went in, but porous.

I have now gathered some clay again in the wild and spent some
time putting it through seives to remove organic material and
stones, and I have had a go at making some pots.

These I have burnished with the back of a tea-spoon. On some I
have put some coloured slips that I made with coloured stones
(powdered in pestle and mortar) and very wet clay.

Burnishing over the slips has made some of the colours nice and
vivid.

Questions:
If I find another barrel, should I try to fire the pots in there
again? The other options are a wood fired fire-place in a country
house (but I have to wait for the winter) or an open fire in
someone's garden. Will any of these firing ideas make the clay
non-poous to the extent that the pots will hold water / wine?

I know that ideally I should go buy some clay, rather than
collect from fields, and possibly go buy a kiln, but that is in
the future.

Oh well. All comments, questions, ideas, etc. welcome!

Cheers,
Stelios, Athens-Greece

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