Wood Fired Pottery

Ahh...
The great Joy of wood fired pottery. For the people who collect it or the people who admire it, they have it easy. Creating it is the hard part, I mean hard on the body--Uffda! I must say that I find no joy in collecting, sawing, splitting and stacking wood for 3 hours in near 100 degree heat. But, this is part of the process which ultimately leads to an insane adventure with fire and earth.

Tomorow I will be firing a few of my tea bowls which I hand carved from 8 pound blocks of clay, and one bowl that my friend John carved.

John has never made anything out of clay but has always been interested in my pottery and the processes involved with firing the pots. He has helped me modify my gas raku kiln and has come up with some great ideas for firing.

Anyway, I just handed him a block of clay and a few carving tools and said "there is a bowl inside that clay so use the tools and release it." I'm not sure how long it took him to carve the bowl but he did it and seemed to be quite pleased with himself. I was quite suprised, as I gave him no suggestions, help, or advise of any kind.

So we're both fired up about firing our pots, although I have to say that he gave me no help in sawing and splitting all the wood.