Loading the Kiln with an Awkward Shape Bonsai Crescent

One of the challenges of loading up a kiln for a glaze firing is making sure you can fit as much as possible into it with the little space available.

This load has a larger crescent shape in it.  It takes up just over half the height of the kiln and has an overhang that doesn't really allow a kiln shelf to be placed lower down.  Well.....not normally.

Here's the sequence I loaded it in. 

A few more pots were nestled underneath the bottom curve with maybe 2 or 3cm clearance.

Here you see the awkwardness of the shape.  There was just enough space along the sides of this crescent to ease in a half shelf.  I wasn't quite happy about the clearance from the shelf edge to the side of it, but if it slumps a little in the high temperature, then at least the shelf is going to stop it a little.  The back of it is reasonably close to the side kiln elements as usually I try and keep pots about 1cm away.

Usually when you place the kiln shelves, you make sure to have an even gap around the edge to let the air/heat circulate evenly, but this was as even as I could manage to get this one.

I squeezed in 4 pots on the layer above the crescent, and another half shelf with two on it.

There is quite a bit of wasted space in this load as I would usually put another half shelf in but the top of that crescent made it too awkward.

Its all closed up now and is quite happily firing away into the night.........now comes the long wait until I can open it up and see how some of these glazes turned out........fingers crossed!

Hopefully one or two of these will end up on my Pots for sale page in the next week or two.

Contact me on howimakebonsaipots@gmail.com, any opinions or comments are most welcome.