Our Kiln

Tres Piedras Anagama

Located in Tres Piedras, NM (30 minutes from J. Bradford Pottery), this 24-foot anagama was built to completion and fired for the very first time during the month of May 2006. It is straight-walled with a sprung arch, three side-stokes, and three rising steps on the floor. All 5200 of the wall and floor brick were salvaged from a defunct coal furnace at an electric plant in Alamosa, CO; all the shed lumber salvage from a house foundation. In nine days, it took a hard-working team of some 20 volunteers (in addition to Bradford, Reed and Kane)to construct the entire kiln. We then fired for another five, burning nearly six cords of wood. Looking out to the distant Sangre de Cristo mountains over a sea of sage brush, it is the ultimate kiln with a view, kiln in the wind.

Talpa Anagama

This 20-foot kiln was built in a very traditional anagama style by a Japanese potter named Yoshiki during a lengthy visit to NM. It rises steeply along the hillside, has two side stoking ports and fires for four days, consuming around four cords of wood.

H.F.H.P. Kiln

This 16-foot kiln was built by John Bradford and Chris Reed in September 2004 as a part of the Healthy Forest-Happy Potters non-profit: a unique effort at collaboration between forestry and art by burning small diameter deadwood or overgrowth in a wood-fired kiln. The kiln was designed as a hybrid of an anagama tube and a catenary-arched salt chamber in order to yeild a vast range of results. It typically fires for two and a half days, consuming 2-3 cords of wood. (For additional information: www.HappyPotters.org)

Wood-Salt Burry-Box Kiln

Located next to the large anagama in Tres Piedras, this 32 cubic foot salt kiln was designed especially to emphasize the "big" in "Big Brick Kilns." It was built primarily with 64lb. high refractory bricks salvaged from a Utah steel mill. The design also encorporates a burry-box pre-heat chamber with an internal firebox. The chimney will be raised to 18' to compensate for 8000' of altitude. Rock salt is loaded into the kiln at close to peak temperatures, whereupon it volitalizes, disassociates and bonds with the silica in the clay body to create an all-over glassy sheen on the surface of the pots.