Spring 2007
Student Trip
Joey Bradley had the opportunity to travel to Johnson City, Tennessee, and
participate in a firing with a newly constructed wood and salt firing kiln at East
Tennessee State University. It took one day to load the wood, one day to fire, and
three days to cool down. In contrast to our own downdraft reduction kiln with burners, the
wood kiln fires quietly with all the snapping and popping you would get in a fireplace.
Stoking the firebox was a challenge. Four people took shifts the entire time (17 hours),
adding wood every couple of minutes. In a later part of the firing, 20 pounds of salt was
added. Joey had about 35 pieces, and they turned out in the quintessential wood firing
look—earth tones, contrasting surface textures, blushing glazes. One of his favorite parts
of the trip for the firing was meeting Don Davis, the head of ETSU’s ceramics department
who wrote the first pottery book that Joey ever owned.