Apologies for the long delay in getting a post out, I am ironically hobbled by my computer, which has erased all of it’s applications and will not accept a new operating system. But enough about slightly out-of-date technology, and on to severely out-of-date technology.

I have constructed a new furnace into a hillside, with a very small clay chamber and a chimney. The first thing I’ve learned might seem obvious: one cannot build a chimney out of wood. It went up in flames pretty promptly, you can see the section that is burned out in this photograph. Anyway, I’ve replaced it with mortared stones, and the furnace has a great natural draft. The hot air from the fire rises, creating a low pressure at the base, which atmospheric air rushes in to fill- passing through the coals and combusting, providing heat to the chimney! It’s like an engine really. But forced air is necessary to get to 1100 C, and my old bellows system won’t work in the crumbly hillside. I’m trying to sew the skins into something respectable today, otherwise I’m going to need a crew to blow through reeds in shifts. I based the dimensions on a furnace in the Andes powered by breath- it’s just barely possible. Needless to say, I’m hoping for bellows.