Pots From First Firing

A New Year In Clay

"It's the bomb"

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Wood and Oil

 

Minding the Fire

Community Firing

The Bobtown Potters sent sparks into the winter sky Saturday evening. The weather is not the only extreme here. From fifty degrees to zero to outside, and from zero to 2,400 degrees, the new kiln exceeded expectations. Bobtown Arts board members Philip Wiggs and Clarence Hayes, along with community potters Ron Deaver, Robbie Teasdale and Bruce Hoefer, withstood extreme cold to feed the firebox for thirty hours, adding the reclaimed waste oil to the wood. Anthony Wolking contributed fifty tea bowls to the 150 pots loaded into the Bourry Box kiln. We are waiting to unload the kiln, now cooling in the arctic air, but an initial peek was joyful.

Broken Pots

The Value of a Broken Pot

I recall that during Walter Hyleck’s pottery classes, he selected pieces from student collections and culled them from the better work. In breaking the pots against the wall, students could see where the pots were too thick or thin or irregular. As a writer who has tossed several novels to get to the one I want to keep, I see the value in the pots that are broken and never sent out into the world. In the attic and in old boxes, the many pages I have written over the years constitute the learning experience that has brought me skill. Our best work requires us to look at our own work with a critical eye. I think I would like to contribute something to the firing this month, maybe a lot of old pages that I can let go off now. Some of the ash of my words can glaze the pots.  I think we are ready to light up the sky at Bobtown.