The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 49 No 1 April 2010

Focus: Wood-Firing
Stonehenge, local cla y.
fired on side, wad marks
relate to each piece,
h.24cm, w.12cm, d.12cm
All photos: Len Cook
Tropical Anagama
North Queensland wood-firer Len Cook traces his involvement with kilns, canefie lds
and rainforest
Sugar Cane Field Anagama 1991
I built my first anagama near Coolbie, a remote rural area on the coast, 35 km from Paluma . A friend
had purchased some land which was originally used for grazing cattle. At the time it seemed to be
a good idea as there were plenty of ideal places to construct the kiln. After six firings and numerous
changes to the chimney in the following years, I managed to get some promising results.
Having the kiln in a remote area, meant everything from camping gear to drinking water had to be
trucked from Paluma to Coolbie. I invited a few fellow potters to participate in firing, but because of
the uncertain nature of the results, most lost interest. One design problem with the anagama was that
the pitch, or incline angle, of the kiln was too shallow and subsequently it was always colder at the rear
of the kiln. In hindsight, building the anagama away from my home was a bad idea as it became very
labour intensive and the sugar cane farmers were very nervous about the possible fire risk to the cane.
Eventually the farm was sold.
Catenary Arch Kiln 1995
Disappointed with the outcome of the anagama near Coolbie, I decided to build another wood-fired
kiln, Thinking about the quantity of the Coolbie anagama pots which received the hammer treatment, I
built a small catenary kiln in my backyard. I kept the kiln small so that I didn't need an army of people to
help me fire it. With a few adjustments, this kiln produced excellent results in twenty hours and in some
parts of the kiln I achieved effects similar to anagama firings. This lured me back into building another
anagama. I now had some experience in anagama building and was able to eliminate the design
problems to build a better kiln for Paluma.
46 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2010