NOBO

From 2007 to 2017, one of the main kilns on the property was an oft-fired catenary arch. It was a noborigama style kiln. Noborigamas tend to emphasize efficiency rather than dramatic wood ash deposits. I used this kiln as a way to work through ideas about glazes, clay bodies and forms. It was a test kiln of sorts for the anagama.

A noborigama is traditionally a multi-chambered climbing kiln built on a slope. The NOBO was single chambered, about 6 feet high (2 m) and 7.5 feet long (2.5 m). It had a volume of 60 cubic feet (1.6 m3). It was stoked through a firebox in the front, with one stoke hole on either side. Construction of the noborigama was finished in December of 2009. It was fired about once a month unless preparations to fire the anagama were under way. The firings averaged about 50 hours long.

It was disassembled and entirely recycled to create the NOMMO in 2018.