What's so special about wood-fired ceramics?

Modern electric and gas kilns allow exact replication of firing conditions, which ensures predictable results. However, it wasn't always this way. For thousands of years the only available fuel for firing clay was wood and achieving predictable results was a challenge. Firing with wood is long, costly and labour intensive. However, contemporary potters continue to do it to create unique and unexpected ceramic pieces. Various chemical and physical processes 'decorate' ceramics in a wood kiln, but the desirable results are never guaranteed. Relatively few potters engage in making wood-fired ceramics regularly. The same applies to bonsai pot makers and that's why quality wood-fired bonsai pots are rare. 

Displayed at the 15th Gafū-ten Shōhin Bonsai Exhibition, Kyoto 2020. Above is my best unglazed wood-fired pot to date. It features an intricate deposit of ash with a little bit of carbon trapping and some flashing on the clay body - all that potters want on their wood-fired pots. Made it in 2012 and could not repeat this particular result after multiple attempts. Displayed at the Australian National Arboretum Bonsai Week, Canberra in 2017 and 2018.

Above is one of my favorite glazed wood-fired pots. Made in 2013. Could not get this colour again after multiple attempts. Displayed at the National Arboretum Canberra during Bonsai Week in 2017 and 2018.

Above is one of my favorite glazed wood-fired pots. Made in 2017. Same glaze and clay as on the previous pot, but never had such result before. The blue ash on this pot is uncommon (usually it's white or green). Glaze crystals on the lip are a nice feature too. Displayed at the 37th Annual Exhibition of the School of Bonsai, Sydney in 2019.

A few more images of my wood-fired pots

Pots from two wood firings in 2019.

Two sides of a pot beautiful in a very subtle way. Click on the right-hand image for a close-up of the crystalline glaze. Crystallisation of this glaze occurred on my pots only twice so far in 2013 and 2014.