Posted by John Britt

Barrel Firing with Nathan Neufeld 2011




I took a bunch of photos today at the barrel firing we did at Nick Lafone's place.  Nathan Neufeld showed us all how it's done.  He taught a class at Odyssey in the spring and is on his way to his first year of college at Kansas City Art Institute in a couple of weeks.    You can find the photos here:

http://s652.photobucket.com/albums/uu246/mlparkes/Barrel%20Firing%20with%20Nathan/

There's a video, too, at the end.


Marian Parkes
mar1an@charter.net
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Comments

June Perry said…
Marian, how large an opening did he have at the base?

I wish I could find one of those barrels. They make great garden tool holders. I had one but gave it away to my sister-in-law when we moved, thinking it would be easy to replace. I've only seen them for sale in one place and I'd have to find a way to remove the top, which I'm not prepared to do. :-(
July 25, 2011 at 10:48 AM
Marian Parkes said…
June, there was no opening at the base, just the openings that you see drilled in the sides of the barrel. I assume he starts a fire under it just to help with the fire inside and perhaps to start convection within the barrel. Not sure. I'll ask.
July 25, 2011 at 11:39 AM
Marian Parkes said…
Oh, and the copper mixture was one part copper carbonate to two parts of pickling salt, well mixed up to where there weren't any lumps. It's sprinkled into the combustibles and hopefully not directly onto the pots.
July 25, 2011 at 11:43 AM
Linda Starr said…
Marian thanks for posting this and all the photos; I've done several barrel firings, but it's nce to see how others load the barrel and place the wares and the ingredients they use. I was lucky enough to get a honey barrel here at a local place since I gave away all my supplies in Califoria when I moved here to Florida last year. I just set my barrel directly on the ground but raising it up on blocks might help keep it hot longer.

How long did it take to fire completely down to ashes? And did you add more wood along the way?
July 25, 2011 at 11:52 AM
Marian Parkes said…
Linda, the plan was to not add more wood and we didn't. However, it started raining shortly before it was time to cover it up. I think Nathan covered them a bit earlier than he would have liked so after the rain stopped we threw in some more straw to make up for that. That was pretty much it. He normally doesn't cover it until there is no more flame and there are only embers. Then keeps it covered until it's unloaded the next day.

The pots turned out beautifully. Hopefully we'll be able to add more photos soon so we can see the results at the same link.
July 25, 2011 at 7:39 PM
Linda Starr said…
thanks Marian, seeing the finished pots would be great.
July 25, 2011 at 11:58 PM
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