Another step I learned this year regarding doing a wood fire kiln is wadding.

Little peces of wadding are placed on the bottom of each pottery piece to allow the piece to stand slightly above the shelves.

The small space below each piece, created by the pieces of wadding, helps the flow of the fire, ash and air to circulate better in the kiln.

Photo courtesy of Beth Genung

Each wadding piece is made of clay and kitty litter!   Meow.

We Periscope’d portions of the wood firing. Follow PottersofPeriscope to catch live action (https://www.periscope.tv/), but use the iOs or Android App if you can (less complicated).