Reflecting a bit on the firing

In mentally processing the recent firing of the #BelugaGama...along with conversations with various members of the stoke crew...a few thoughts form a talk with Mike Perham got me thinking  a bit clearer about the experience. It struck me that the idea of having smaller kilns to compliment the #Pyranhagama was a good idea...turns out yes, for sure. So much has been learned from firing the smaller kilns (#GuppieGama 60c.f. and #BelugaGama 38c.f.). Be experimenting and learning a ton each firing I've come to the realization that firing the #PyranhaGama (125c.f.) is an extension of an ongoing learning curve...the kilns are all a part of a growing overall understanding. Back a few months ago...we fired the Beluga in an attempt to redux cool...but we were missing a recently added tight-sealing active damper which was installed about 8 feet up from the base of the chimney...just beyond the tapered end of the corbelling. Because we didn't have a complete seal on the kiln the first redux firing.. there was some draft and heat gain at the top temp end of the down-firing. I noticed a particularly pleasing array of soft yellows, purples and oranges that appeared on Jack Troy porcelain slip that was dipped (thin) on my Fireclay body. We fired a bit cooler that time...around cone 10. We've fired redux with a complete seal since then and have replicated the recent results(nearly) two firings in a row...no soft blushing of pastel colors....the big change this last time was a series of heavy stokes at the end to achieve a high temp a the side center of 2358F.  The big stokes resulted in 1.5 hours of reduction before the redux cycles (8-9 minutes between stokes with 3-4 minutes of relative clearing). The tight seal has yielded strong iron reds and intense orange flashing. Wanted to document this connection between firing methods as I'm planning to revisit a mild-draft semi-redux cool element to the next firing. Robert Boryk mentioned that he's seen the brightest flashing when he continued reduction cooling down to 1400F...we have been stopping at 1600F. I was also reading that Bernard Leach found interesting iron effects when introducing small bits of wood in the 7-800C range...roughly 1300=-1400 degrees...just before the pots loose their glow. This we'll try. I'm confident that we'll not jeopardize the quality of works as there's been no un-melted ash or any issues with any glazes or clay bodies as a result of our redux cool exploration. The clean out period within the down-fire cycles seems to be a key and I can thank Steve Johnson for bringing this amazing technique to my attention. We're firing the Pyranha in a couple weeks so I'll definitely be sharing our findings ASAP. Best, Trev