Hugh & I's 2nd firing.

All guns a blazing :) this is our chimney puffing away about half way through our 16 hour firing.

We wait for two days to let the kiln cool down at a nice pace, then we get to start removing bricks & revealing the results. This is always an exciting time.

The results were good :) sorry about the faded photographs as the it was a very sunny day & caused problems trying to take pics.
These are some of Alan's last pieces as we have been putting a couple in each firing as we don't want to put all the eggs in one basket (just in case).

Here are some of my mice looking happy & fat, celebrating a successful firing :)

Demonstrators at Kindrogan.

This first picture is Douglas Fitch's work who I met at Kindrogan but has been a friend of Argyll Pottery through Alan's blog. Wish id got a decent picture of the puzzle jug though.

These two pictures are of Fergus Stewart's work who I also met for the first time at Kindrogan. Both demonstrator's were very different in the materials & the methods they used which made the weekend really interesting & had something for everybody's taste & preference.
Although ive been studying & working with clay for about twelve years now this was the first time ive ever been to Kindrogan. I had such a good weekend that i will deffinately be back in the future as I met some great like minded folk & really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere ;)

Paper Kiln @ Kindrogan by Carol Farrow

These mice show the difference between the wood burning kiln & the paper kiln that was built at the Scottish Potters Association weekend. The brown one was fired in the kiln at Argyll Pottery & the black one from Kindrogan.

The paper kiln was built by many volunteers over the weekend by rolling news paper & weaving it. It was then packed with sawdust & pots then more sawdust & pots until it was filled.

Then the lid was placed on & ready to light. The stray rolls of paper that's coming from the bottom is what you light to bring the flame into the bottom of the kiln & drawn up throughout.

The outside wall of the kiln kept its shape & the flames began to show through the centre. After the initial lighting of the kiln it all went quite fast as there was strong wind.

From lighting to emptying it only took a couple of hours, which was surprising when i got my mouse from the ashes & realised it must have went to at least 7/800 C

The paper kiln was a fun & interesting thing to do & see but the success rate of pots from the kiln wasn't that high. There was a few things that survived & had nice effects but don't think we will start using this method at Argyll :) all good fun though x

My first day back after the winter.

Was lovely to be back at the pottery as I wasnt sure what the plan was over the winter. These pics were takin on the 9th of March. What a nice welcome back to have such a stunning sunset :)

Feel so lucky to have this as my view from my flat above the pottery.

Hi there, Welcome to my first post on my new blog for Argyll Pottery, hope you enjoy this one & others to follow. These picture's were takin in October of last year which was Hugh & myself's first firing without Alan.

As you can imagine the pressure was on to get it right & make Alan proud. When we opened the kiln we were chuft with the results :) as we both thought Alan would be pleased.

Although nothing is ever quite perfect as one of our cones decided to attach itself to a close by posy pot hehe we were both amused by this & have kept it as a momento. If this is the biggest problem we have then im sure we will be very happy.

Since im new to all this, if there is any tips or info anybody can give, please do.

Thanks, Nicola