Mastering Kilns and Firing: Raku, Pit, Barrel, Wood Firing, and More

Learn the key techniques, tips, and tricks for pit, barrel, raku, and wood firing.

Fall in love with flames, wood, and the effect that unique firing methods have on pottery. Move beyond the electric kiln and explore the dramatic surfaces of raku, the flashes of salt firing, and the rustic look of ash rivulets. In this book, Lindsay Oesterritter provides a crash course in the most accessible methods of alternative firing.

Raku firing requires minimal equipment and can easily be fueled with a standard propane tank. Likewise, pit and barrel firing do not require much in the way of initial investment. Yet all these techniques provide an immediate glimpse into the magic of firing. Bright reds and blues, dramatic black and white crackle, even metallic luster are instantly possible. For more experienced potters and studios looking to offer more, Oesterritter also explores wood-fired kilns. Drawing on years of experience and extensive interviews with fellow wood-fire potters, there is no comparable resource on the market.

Features on top potters working today get to the heart of specialty techniques and asides show firing variations and traditional kilns in different cultures around the world. A gallery of showstopping work from a diverse group of artists round out the package and inspire you to get started.

The Mastering Ceramics series is for artists who never stop learning. With compelling projects, expert insight, step-by-step photos, and galleries of work from today’s top artists, these books are the perfect studio companions. Also available from the series: Mastering Hand Building and Mastering the Potter's Wheel.

Lindsay Oesterritter is the director of Objective Clay, co-founder and organizer of National Clay Week, and a full-time studio potter. Lindsay earned her MFA from Utah State University in Logan, Utah, held the position of Assistant Professor of Ceramics at Western Kentucky University (2009–2015), and earned Associate Professor in 2015. Lindsay was a resident artist at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg and in Australia at Strathnairn Arts Association. She lectures and exhibits nationally and internationally, most frequently on wood firing techniques and kiln construction/design, and is continually inspired by the craft community. View her work and workshop schedule at: loceramics.com