This article details results from a research project partially funded by Falmouth School of Arts, looking at some aspects of open firing (firing without a kiln), specifically the bonfire. I undertook this year and a half long commitment of one day per week (our day off), grinding pigments and chemicals, weighing, sieving, recording, transcribing, word processing and firing, alongside my best friend and fellow undergraduate of the brand new BA(Hons) in Contemporary Ceramics - Sue Ward (Styles & Ward) and Peter Smith, our main chemistry and socially inept glaze expert lecturer that we had become accustomed too on the HND in Studio Pottery, of which we did a year full time before it closed down to make way for the brand new degree, externally validated by Alison Britton. Pete became our special mentor, being a high-temperature research chemist/potter/ kiln builder extraordinaire/sound performance/ installation artist and for a good few years, a very dear friend to me and my children.
