Lucien M. Koonce: June firing of the Gustin anagama

It was another great firing down in South Dartmouth, MA this past June at Chris Gustin's wood kiln. After three days of loading, firing commenced for six days. After a couple of weeks to cool down, we unloaded July 2nd.

Front stack, Gustin anagama

At the height of firing the front chamber, I pulled a guinomi (sake cup) from the front stack and immersed it in water. This is a technique known as "hikidashi", which originated in 16th century Japan around the Mino wood kilns. Pieces with iron-rich glaze or slip will give a rich variety of black due to the rapid oxidized cooling. The cup was glazed with a slip made from clay dug out of the Connecticut River.

Below is a short (37 seconds) video clip of the event:
(Fyi, this is the only video I have posted on YouTube).

Here is an image of the finished piece:

Black Seto Guinomi

Below are images of a variety of my work from the kiln:
(This work is available for purchase; correspondence at lmkoonce@mindspring.com for pricing, dimensions, descriptions, and more images of particular pieces).

Chaki

(Tea caddy for thin tea)