Art in Clay Exhibit at Old Salem

I enjoyed an impromptu field trip today to Old Salem Museum and Gardens, after doing some part time pharmacy work. I've wanted to visit for years now but have never had a good opportunity until today. They currently have an amazing exhibit until August 14, 2011, "Art in Clay: Masterworks of North Carolina Earthenware". It is a ground-breaking exhibit that features approximately 120 pieces of masterfully decorated slipware, sculptural bottles, refined creamware and faience that are but part of the rich artistic legacy of North Carolina's first earthenware potters. I had the best day, looking at slip trailed pots, snacking on Moravian sugar cake. Sometimes you need a day like today to take it easy and get inspired. Now I'm even more psyched about this weekend's workshop in Shelby, NC featuring Hannah McAndrew and Doug Fitch. I feel it was serendipitous that I had free time today to see these wonderful pieces right before my slip trailing workshop. Look for many slip trailed pieces to come! Sorry, there is no sugar cake left to share.






Below is potter Michael Fox making an ink well.






These nice gentlemen are cutting my freshly baked sugar cake.

Done...for now

The kiln is pretty much done except for some minor tweaking. Joe finished the firebox on Thanksgiving day, then traveled back to Wisconsin. A few days later, he expressed that he would like to rework the firebox to make it better. The tatami brick did not work out as well as planned. See Joe's post for more details on what did not work.

I was hoping to be completely done by now, but it will not take much to redo the firebox this spring before the first "entire kiln" firing. So this spring, Joe will come back, take off the top of the main firebox and do it again, most likely without any tatami bricks. It is sad that we worked so hard on the brick for them to not work out. Joe felt like they were too tapered. He thought that the ones I made were straighter and if we had more, it could have worked. Too bad I was a slow producer and didn't make as many as Joe and Matt (but I am secretly happy mine were the best). I think the tatami bricks will eventually find a place to work, just maybe not in my kiln.

Steven and I finished coating the first chamber today, much to his dismay. When coating it several weeks ago we ran out of clay and I had to go buy more. I have been trying to finish it for weeks, but needed a night where the temperatures did not dip below 30 at night. Today was the only one in weeks, and there do not seem to be any more coming any time soon. It is unseasonably cold! Steven tried to talk me out of it today, but I was as determined as a two year old that I wanted to do it and do it today, even if it didn't make sense. I know it didn't have to be done until spring but I hated to leave the kiln with a patch of kaowool showing.


Another view after coating the first chamber.




The state of the first chamber for the last 2 weeks. See, it just couldn't sit like this for months. Thanks to Steven for your help today and for the past 2 months!

That reminds me, I need to thank all those that helped throughout this process. Let's see, there is Joe Cole, a huge thank you, thank you, thank you. I could not have done this without your hard work, planning, and patience. You helped me fulfill a life dream, for that I will always be grateful. Thanks to Christy for allowing Joe to come help me for several weeks. Also for your help on your vacation. I am so glad you could visit for a little while! I'd like to thank Matt Hallyburton, Gaines Bailey, Kyle Miller, Wendy Neale and Spence Bardeen, Luke Studer and Elizabeth Hodgson, the Harlans, Bob Feth, Emily Cox, Trish Welsh, Lara O'Keefe, Ana Howard, Darren Sink, Stewart Waller, Gene Christian, Alex and Poli Garcia, Dave and Katherine, Rick Tufts, Andy Miller, Takuro Shibata and Greg Shuck. Thank you all so much!

Coating the First Chamber

On Wednesday my friends, Trish Welsh and Emily Cox, came out to help coat the first chamber. We cut and laid the kaowool ceramic fiber, then covered that with chicken wire, and finally coated it all with the sand/clay/cement/straw mix. We had a great time. Here are some pics of us ladies in action.







Here is Trish, covering the sidewall.





And Emily .

This photo was taken for a laugh at how potters use their shirts and pants to wipe their hands. More funny than this would be when I'm in "good clothes" and forget it is not acceptable to wipe hands on yourself. This action is usually followed by the thoughts of "What was I thinking? Or not thinking?".

We did not get the entire chamber covered, but got most of it done. We were running low on clay and had to make a run to Claymakers to get more. Also Joe was working on the main firebox and we will not be able reach some areas due to invading his work space. I plan to finish up with the coating next week. I've got family visiting for Thanksgiving and I'm enjoying some rest and time with them for a few days.

Tatami Bricks!

We unloaded the kiln today and the tatami brick look great. No casualties, so the preheat took care of drying them out. We hope to place them tomorrow, and also coat the kiln, which means we'll be done! Yea! Joe did a more in depth post of today, so check it out here.

Tatami Brick Bisque Firing Stoker Gallery

We had a lot of visitors come out for the tatami brick firing. I really appreciate the help and enjoyed seeing everyone. Thanks so much! Bob Feth came out for a little while Sunday morning and made sure we stayed on track.



Joe returned mid-morning, after doing the night shift.


Wendy Neale and Spence Bardeen arrived around noon.





Steven brought us lunch, then took over stoking duties.


Darren Sink visited mid-afternoon. He brought his dog Shadow. Shadow had a great time exploring the property.
I helped too!


Matt Hallyburton came out for the last few hours, helping us get the cones down. We finished around 9 pm. On the schedule for today, not much. But tomorrow we plan to unload the tatami brick and get back to work to finish the kiln by the end of this week.

Ready For Another Firing

Tomorrow we will be firing the second chamber again, this time it will be filled with tatami brick. We will follow the same schedule as last time, going slower due to the thickness of the tatami brick. We only need to go to cone 1 this time so I image we will finish a couple hours sooner but the firing will take about 18 hours. We started preheating yesterday and will continue today. We will really start going about 6 am tomorrow and hope to finish around 8 pm.







I finished up the first chamber wall yesterday, today I will start working on the door side. I also need to go get a few loads of wood for the firing. You can see the fire in the second firebox, preheating the tatami brick.





Here is a photo of the whole kiln, it is really coming along. Joe has been working on the main firebox and he has done all the work on it. I think it is beautiful, I wish that we did not have to coat it. We are close to the point where we will finish with the tatami brick on top. Most likely we will be finished with the kiln next week.

A Few Pictures From the First Firing

Joe and I fired the second chamber of the kiln on Sunday with the help of Luke Studer and Bob Feth. It was a nice and easy firing, the easiest I've ever done. We had no problem getting temperature and all cones were within about a quarter of each other. I was worried it was too easy, meaning the pots probably would not be nice. I know that is pretty pessimistic of me but I've been let down so many times in the past I was prepared for the worst. Most of the pots in the kiln were Triangle Brewing Mugs for their Black Friday celebration. I had a lot of eggs in one big ole kiln basket, but they all turned out great! I am so pleased with the kiln and the results. Here are a few pictures of the mugs.




Here is a view inside the kiln. We stacked the kiln very loosely. I imagine we could get four times the amount of pots in that we did. We needed to fire the kiln to top temperature because we are going to bisque fire the tatami brick next. Joe thought that it was a good way to make sure all mortar and castable were dry/set while simultaneously testing the bagwall. Also I did not have time to fill the kiln but had an order for about 75 mugs. When I decided to make the mugs back in the summer I imagined I'd be renting a kiln to fire them, I did not realize I would be in the middle of building a kiln. Anyway, it all worked out!



On Tuesday we continued making the tatami bricks. Here is a photo of Joe, Matt and I after we finished. Yea! This involved lots of wedging of groggy clay, my hands are glad to be done.





On Wednesday, Steven and I worked on the first chamber wall. Thanks to Steven it is very level. I was losing my patience and also starting to hit my limit of brick laying. You would think it would get easier but the trick is that the bricks are not all quite the same size. Eventually Steven started measuring the thickness and the hard bricks. They were in a range of 2.25 inches, 2.5 inches and 2.75 inches. It was hard to fit these brick in with the consistently sized soft brick. At least it's not me, it's the brick! We finally got them level with lots of mortar.


Joe worked on the main firebox, isn't the little arch cute! Joe was in the zone when working on the firebox, it was quite interesting to watch him work.