When my partner moved out to Portland, Oregon for a job last year, I joined him for six months to see what ceramics opportunities there might be.

I signed up to a community studio in Portland, and met Sam (@SuayCeramics) running a soda firing course. I'd never done soda firing before, but jumped at the chance to try. I joined him and a few potter friends in four soda firings in their handmade gas kiln, as well as a visit to a community kiln space called East Creek. It's two hours south of Portland, and has many kilns built by local potters, with a history of firing kilns as a group for over 40 years. It's such a friendly and welcoming space, and I signed up to take part in a wood soda firing - where the kiln is fired with local wood (it's deep in the forest!) and we add bicarbonate of soda at the top temperature of the firing. This basically acts as a glaze, like wood ash in a solely wood-fired kiln, floating over the pots with the movement of the flame. The soda reacts with the glazes on the piece, and makes really directional glaze effects - often only one side it hit by the flame, and goes beautifully glossy with a glaze crackle. At East Creek they have an anagama, a wood soda and gas soda kilns. I've always wanted to try reduction firings, as I make quite a traditional teacup form and love when I can contrast it with a dynamic and surprising glaze.

My weekend at East Creek was by far my favourite pottery weekend ever, but boy it was intense!

Wadding and loading

I arrived on the Friday, meeting 30 potters all ready to help with the firing. The kiln took 14 hours to load, and I bricked up the kiln at 2am ready for a preheat overnight. The wood fire started at 6am on Saturday, and from then on needed careful stoking every 5-10 minutes for the next two days. We monitored the temperature using a pyrometer as well as cones - small pyramids of clay which melt and bend at certain temperatures. This told us what the temperature was across the whole of the kiln - it was a large space with probably 800 pots. I met some incredible potters, all passionate about what they were doing and very talented - many were full time potters with exhibitions across the country or supplying restaurants.

Setting it alight

The older potters showed me how to listen to the kiln to know when and how to stoke, and to watch the smoke to make sure each stoke didn't reduce the oxygen in the kiln too much.

Stoking in 6 hour shifts, we monitored the cones and started adding soda in the early hours of Sunday morning, when the temperature was about 1200°c. We had to be careful, as the mixture of soda and water can easily bring down the temperature.

Top temperatures, top team

We wanted a nice hot kiln to vaporise the soda and get it travelling and melting through the kiln. We got the final cone 12 (c. 1300°c) down at the front at about 3pm on Sunday, when we left the fire to burn out. The following weekend was a buzz of excitement; the kiln opening. We all stood in a row, passing each pot from the kiln down the chain to the table - everyone got to hold and admire everyone's work. It was a very successful firing, and I was so happy to see my normal teacup forms with some very dramatic soda glazes, thanks to Maya (@maya.elin.1). I'm hoping to do some more wood and gas firings here in the UK when I can!