Good News

Before leaving El Salvador for a two week vacation in the good 'ol US of A, I received word that Maria Irene fired more comales in her kiln and they all came out beautifully.

Therefore, work has resumed on all kilns and I will update you as soon as I am back in my little community - approximatly the 3rd or 4th of January.

Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays!

Senora Andrea Ramos García

The second kiln to receive work was that of Senora Andrea Ramos García. Her kiln was constructed differently then that of Maria Irene – it is a combination of square and round kilns. The picture below left shows the oven before work while it was in use. Unlike normal square kilns, the wood burns on the ground below – normally this is elevated by iron bars. It is also an unusually small kiln.

Learning from Maria Irene’s kiln, this kiln was given a few more days to dry and then was fired without pieces inside to dispel any remaining moisture. Also, when she was done firing the pieces, the entry to the wood chamber was closed to prevent the chimney from acting in reverse and drawing cold air down.

Thankfully, her kiln worked beautifully and she is thrilled with the results.

We´re still awaiting Maria Irene´s second firing before we proceed further. Andrea´s kiln was done before we fired in Maria´s.

Señora Maria Irene Pérez

The first completed kiln is one belonging to Señora Maria Irene Pérez.

This kiln is used by three artisans to fire their pieces and is a perfect example of its kind. You can see in the photo to the right that the kiln is round, but open on top. When firing the pieces, the kiln was covered by pieces of lamina - which allowed most of the heat to escape and destroy both the lamina put on top and the lamina that acted as a roof.

This is what the kiln now looks like. As you can see, it’s been built up, closed in and a chimney now extends beyond the roof.

Being the first one finished, it was also the first one tried. Unfortunately, not all went according to plan. 40 of the 120 comales (large, clay plates) came out cracked. It is for that reason that we have temporarily stopped this sort of construction. We’re waiting for this artisan to fire again and see if it was a flook the first time.

Possible reasons for the breakage include:

• If the oven was heated to quickly


• If the oven cooled too quickly.


• If the oven wasn’t given sufficient time to dry.

It could be a combination of the three - it’s a new design and thus needs to be worked out. I’ll keep you updated as to how it goes. And don´t worry about the artisan´s loss - I reimbursed her for the lost comales.

This, surprisingly, doesn’t affect the entire project. 4 out of the 9 artisans have chosen to add some material themselves and construct their ovens from scratch - deeming the old ones to worn and need of repair. Of these artisans, some have chosen a different design - a square kiln that has proven to save wood and fire at a higher temperature