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Fred Olsen apprenticed in Japan for two years, worked in Denmark at Royal Copenhagen, and taught on the West Coast. He runs his own production studio, the Pinion Crest Pottery, at Mt. Center, California. He is the author of The Kiln Book.
There is probably no experience on pottery to match the thrill, excitement and anticipation of firing a wood-fired climbing kiln. Smoke billowing forth from the kiln every four to seven minutes; the smell of sweat and pine in 180° heat; stoking and then waiting and watching for a loud "oui" and stoking again on and on for seven hours. This was the scene, three times a month, every month, for three years as I fired my chamber in the big Kyoto climbing chamber kilns. Each of the seven to ten chambers measured about 4 1/2' wide, 6' tall and from 14' to 20' long, containing up to 5000 cubic feet. You really feel that by your hands, knowledge and intuition you are controlling the outcome of the pottery in the kiln. The neighbors thinking: "Bloody pyromaniacs! Covering the sky with black smoke and the neighborhood with soot, all because those potters are directly challenging the maker of pottery, the devil fire, in the chamber kiln." Those beautiful old kilns now lie dormant on Kyoto, crumbling into grog. The reasons are simple: lack of wood and its cost; smoke pollution; and alternative kilns such as gas and electric making life easier and more efficient for the potter. Since the opportunity of firing these large chamber kilns has all but disappeared, the following description will give an idea of how it was done.