Alternative Kilns & Firing Techniques by James C. Watkins, Paul Andrew Wandless (2004, Hardcover)

This is a well written, practical, and informative book. Lots of detailed instructions and beautiful color photos. Tells how to build your own raku kiln, barrel and downdraft barrel kilns with readily available local materials, plus detailed instructions on how to fire them. Great techniques and formulas for creating your own unique works of art.

This is a brief but complete treatment of the Raku kiln and its use. It is to the point and with excellent illustrations of the simple kilns and some step by step construction techniques. An explanation and formulary for modern Raku glazes is included as well as a detailed chart for estimating temperatures using pyrometric cones. The photographs of the completed pots are beautiful. The book is written by experienced professional potters with decades of experience. No fluff here, just well presented information and top notch illustrations of real stuff by real artists. Coffee table book size and quality but with solid information front to back. Previous works on this subject are not of this quality and are filled with more traditional kiln designs, while useful, they are pretty sketchy by comparison. I wish that the book had twice as many pages and twice as many illustrations and projects. If you live out in the country and have some wood to spare, this is right on target as you can do this stuff in your backyard with easy to get materials.

Awesome book step by step instructions as well as pics Great pics!! Nice looking book as well as very informative. Has several techniques I plan to use. Recipes look fun and Hope mine end up looking like the ones in this book.

Great book, love the pictures, very informative, would recommend this book to anyone interested in pottery