One of a kind

With wood-fire no two pots are the same. So today I thought I would take a minute to blog about some of the features of wood-fired pots. The fire is said to PAINT the pots you put in the kiln. It licks the surfaces and kisses them with ash. The ash melts and creates glaze and sometimes jewels. The pictures here illustrate some of the prizes from a wood kiln. You will see crusty surfaces, smooth ash drips, crystal formations, super glossy surfaces from melted ash, flashing and blushing of the clay body. The surfaces you see here have no glaze just melted ash. When we fire with wood we are giving up a lot of control. This can be a turn off to some potters. There is usually loss due to cracking, two pots being fused together because one fell over during the firing, it was in a cool spot of the kiln and didn't get much action or maybe it got way too much action. But there are always those few pieces that sing to me and convince me to keep firing this way.

I encourage you to look very close at the surfaces of the ceramics you choose to use everyday. Don't just fill the cup with coffee and mindlessly drink. Feel the rim against your lip. The handle against your fingers. Scan the surface with your eyes and fingers while you are enjoying that richly roasted brew. Fill your senses. This goes for your favorite cereal bowl or dinner plate too.

What a summer it has been

and it's not over yet. I have to admit I should be in the studio right now making pieces for the fall wood firings, but my main focus this summer has been my garden. This summers garden could only be described as abundant. It's been amazing and I've learned so much. We had a great snow pea and snap pea crop and I was able to put lots in the the freezer for winter stir fries. The summer squash is getting a bit old and after about 101 different recipes I'm ready to just let them grow and see how big we can get those last ones to be. Of course they will be composted at the end of the summer so they will not be wasted. We are currently enjoying egg plant, swiss chard, all sorts of peppers, fennel flowers, beets, cucumbers, onions, beans and of course tomatoes. I'm about to try my hand at pickles...I have about 40lbs of cucumbers so I better learn fast.

I will get in the studio soon, but for now it's still garden time. I hope your summer is abundant as well.

Got to get in the studio

I don't even remember the last time I actually touched clay. Pretty sad, but it's the garden that is keeping me out of the studio so I don't feel as bad. The plans right now are to take a little vacation to Alaska and clear the mind coming back with a new found energy and inspirations. The fall will come fast and I better have some stuff to fill that kiln. Next on the list is the Gresham Art Walk July 18th. Sarah Chenoweth, Carla McHattie and myself will be representing MHCC and all that is good about our wonderful Visual Arts Depart.

Soulgama and a Happy Birthday

Another fantastic firing at Soulgama. Stephen Mickey always gathers a fantastic group of potters and this firing was no exception. The crew is an amazing community or maybe more of a family. We work together to load the kiln and fire it, but we laugh together, eat, drink, and maybe even share a few tears. One crew member described a feeling of Loving Kindness. Yes, it sure was that. Of course attention is placed on our work and the kiln, but there is so much more going on and I'm honored to be a part of it all.

My dear friend Sarah arranged cake and festivities for Sat. night since it was my 38th birthday. Maybe the best birthday ever. They sang me birthday wishes and Sarah made a marvelous chocolate cake. So much love and fun. I can't tell you how much I was touched and grateful to be surrounded by such a grand group of people. Thank you all soooooo much. In two weeks we will meet again and open the kiln and see what magic we created. Can't wait.

Pictured: Stephen Mickey, Jack Walsh, Ron Linn, Natalie Warrens. Brenda Scott feeding the fire. A sea of pots during loading, and a nice shot of Stephen Mickey laughing.

Lessons Learned

One of the things I love about ceramics is that you can never stop learning. You could dedicate your life to the process and you will never master it all. This can also be frustrating at times. For the most part the ceramic community is loaded with people who are willing to share their knowledge, time, experience, triumphs and even failures. I guess I have a failure to share with you today, but I'm passing this information on so you don't make the same mistake.

REFRACTORY BRICK...it's not created equal. I purchased 600 hard brick on craigslist.com a few years ago. Good brick, but not for my application. It's brick for a glass kiln, which I didn't have a clue, nor did any of my friends, that it's made for very high temperatures, but not the changes in temps we potters put it through. We made my grate, posts and a couple walls out of this brick and during the first firing the grate started to break up. Of course I was as stressed as could be because the posts were cut from this brick that was falling apart. We thought maybe we didn't leave enough slop between bricks and the expansion destroyed them so we made the grate the same for the second firing, except we left lots of slop for the bricks to expand and move. Well, they fell apart again. The back wall of the fire box has a few cracks, but we think because they are under compression they are holding up. The posts didn't crack either, thankfully.

Since this second grate fell apart so bad I felt I needed to start asking around and see if anyone had some answers. Stephen Mickey didn't know, but suggested I try Jack Troy. Jack is brilliant and answered my call for help with a wonderful explanation. As I said earlier glass kilns are brought up VERY slow and held at a constant temp and their brick has a lot of silica. So now I have new garden brick. Of course I won't be using the posts we cut anymore and we'll have to figure out some sort of covering to protect the one wall that gets heat. Lesson learned.

Pictured are some of the wonderful results from firing #2. Bowls with wonderful shino glazes and soap dishes.

Firing Number Two

We had our second firing and it went smooth. We are still having issues with these weird bricks I got cheap and we used for the grate, but we will replace the gate again and we should be in good shape. Eric rigged up some hardy board with kao wool to insulate the kiln walls and part of the door and it really did the trick. We got come 12 flat on top and bottom in the front and 10 flat in the back. I wadded a few bottle forms across the fire entrance toward the back and I think it slowed things down a bit back there, but we still had good results. The kiln cooled much slower then last time, again Eric's insulating panels really worked. The kiln isn't as cool looking, but firing efficiency is far more important. We opened it yesterday and we had lots of happy results. I would have a few pictures of results, but our memory card decided to have problems so I'll have to retake a few shots of the results.
-happy firing

The pictures show very tired potters, stokers, and the different sides of the kiln with the new panels.

Where does time go?

I wanted to get some more shots of the last firing results and maybe shots of what happened to the grate, but time keeps slipping away from me. We actually had some nice weather today so we spent it transplanting roses. Eric and I also celebrated our 4 year anniversary recently so we of course didn't get anything done then. We are planning our next firing in late Feb so I've been making pots, which is what I should be doing right? I'm also working on some changes to my Ceramic Showcase booth and taking pictures for a clay interpretive display at the show. This is a picture of one of my casseroles with beer bread in it...yum!

Postponed

Well, here we sit and wait, but at this point we still have electricity, plenty of food and beer. We scheduled the first firing for the 20th, but mother nature thought we should wait...so we wait. I think I might get into the studio and make pots since I can't fire them.

Namaste...Brenda and Eric

Within a Fortnight

We are finished with the kiln and busy making pots and gathering wood. I'm a flurry of excitement. Our goal now is to load the 19th and firing the 20th. Cross your fingers for us that the kiln Gods are happy and supportive that day. We will take lots of pictures and notes so we know what to do next time and maybe what not to do. Eric and I are nervous, but good nervous. He worked so hard and it's just as much his baby as mine. Our shelves should be in on Monday and we'll cut post between now an the firing and if we can fit it in toss together a pizza kiln with left over brick. See you soon! P.S. This is Eric's very specialized custom made glove drier. He is looking into a patent. He is a man of many talents.

Great Grate

Well, we hope. I guess we will see very soon when we test it out in December. Yes, you are hearing right the Chicken POT Pie fast-fire kiln is finished. We have a few little things around the kiln barn to do to get ready like wrapping kao-wool around exposed wood beams near the kiln, but as far as the kiln itself goes it is ready to fire. I can hardly contain myself and Eric is hard to hold back too. If it was up to him he would have a fire in it right now. We just have to get through Thanksgiving and a Holiday Sale at MHCC and we'll be ready to go!!!!

I hope everyone has a Fantastic Thanksgiving filled with love, laughs, and of course grand food.
Cheers!

Pots

Since I've been posting so much about the kiln I thought I would just post a few actual pots today. Cheers!

As it stands

So here we are. As you can see Eric built himself a cat walk in front of the chimney so he could go through the roof and away he went. Up, up, up and now we are only about 3 ft. short of being finished with the chimney. So what's left is insulating the arch and side walls and putting in the grate for the firebox. We may fire the first time with the hearth open like the original plans, but ultimately I think we will manufacture a door for the firebox and not have to deal with all that heat and air. My goal is still to fire it for the first time during the winter break in December. The final picture is one of our staff members, William. In this picture he is doing his impersonation of Superman.

Two steps forward, One step back

Eric did another great day of work and got the second, ware chamber, arch in. We took the form out and within an hour we were putting it back because the arch started pushing out the wall. He thought he would have to rebuild the arch, but he just made adjustments and put a rubber mallet to work. It was saved. So now we know before we take the form out we make sure we have the metal frame in position. No problem, Eric is already on it.

I have to say sitting inside the ware chamber was pretty cozy. I may be arachnophobic and acrophobic, but I'm not claustrophobic.

So much progress

I've been neglecting my little blog and I do apologize. Eric has been working so hard on the kiln and it's going pretty well. We of course make time for socializing and other events. Life isn't just work, work, work ya know.

So the pictures here show what has happened in the last month. We got the refractory granola stuffed in tight around the firebox arch and then the ware chamber floor all nice and laid out. Then there is the flu shot, or it is flue shot? And of course the dampers. Things are moving along nicely and at a fairly stress free pace. Eric gets a little frustrated and loses sleep a bit, but that is normal for him and not just that his mind is on the kiln 23/7...somedays he takes an hour for Perry Mason.

Diamonds ARE a girls best friend!

I didn't realize I loved diamonds until now. Sure, most ladies like diamonds hanging off their ears...just ask Cindy McCain, but the diamonds I like are embedded into a 14'' circular blade and can cut through brick like butter. Eric has been cutting the channels off of some of the brick to make flats. This is a picture of the little brick crosses we end up with. Get thee behind me Satan.

Romans would be proud

Well, maybe they would laugh at us. We built an arch. We had NO idea what we were doing, but it stayed up when we pulled the form out so I think we did a good job. My arms are killing me this morning from lugging the brick around, but no pain no gain, right? It was around 100° yesterday, but with the shade of the kiln barn it only felt like 95°. We are going to have another hot day today, they say even hotter, but we are going to stay in the shade, cook out with Eric's family visiting from Rockford, and take it easy. It's 8:30 am and I have a ton of things to do, but I'll be honest I want to go back to bed.

Namaste, B

My first post

This morning is my first adventure into posting on my new blog. Really I'm considering this a photo gallery of pottery and wood-firing, but let's see where things go. I may enjoy this more then I think. I hope this will be a place that friends, family and friends I haven't met yet, can come and see the work I've been doing, maybe check out any shows or sales I have coming up and learn about the fantastic art of wood-fire and wood kilns.

I just participated in Painting with Fire the special exhibit at the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts. The two pieces above were in that show. The pitcher is a great example of "spotted dog". This is one of the lucky results of wood-fire when crystals form on the surface. This baby is loaded with them. The bottles I call Three Cheers. They have some lovely flame marks, blushing and natural ash glaze.