Dear Diana Gabaldon

I've been listening to the Outlander book series while driving back and forth between North Carolina and Virginia for work. The content has been a pleasant way to pass the time and the historical inaccuracies or material culture flaws have been able to be brushed off. Until now.

I'm into book six of the series, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, and I started to have suspicions about what could come when Brianna was trying to figure out how to make pipes for a water system. Of course, when I first heard this I thought, "well, the Moravians in Pennsylvania had figured out how to do that in the 1750s" (the book series at this point being in the 1770s). And then, since the characters are living in North Carolina, they mentioned the Moravian potters in Salem, and I thought, "oh, no, I know where this is going."

When Brianna started digging a pit for her "groundhog kiln" I thought I was going to go crazy while driving down the highway! I understand the need to empower Brianna and give her the ability to use her engineering degree and her knowledge of things she knew and learned in the future, but building a kiln (and I assume making pottery) without any background or training is going a bit too far for me. She had a glassblower make the piece for her mother's surgery, why didn't she build a glass furnace and blow the piece herself? I'm not even to the point of whether or how she makes the pipes, but am worried she is just going to hop on a wheel and make them, which just flummoxes me.

Not to mention that she supposedly went to the Moravians and talked to them about their pottery and their "groundhog kiln". I have issue with this on several levels.

Let's start with the kiln. The Moravians didn't use a groundhog kiln as we think about one today. The kiln site excavated both in Bethabara and Salem showed a rectangular base, and was more than likely a tall, rectangular up or downdraft like one of the German kilns, only smaller. I personally think the one currently in use for demonstration at Salem is too short of a stack and should be much taller. They could have also been using what is sometimes called a "beehive" kiln, which a lot of early American earthenware potters employed. I don't have the reports or books on the kiln excavations from Salem and Bethabara at hand to double check the floor, but I am SURE it was NOT a "groundhog". The concept of the groundhog kiln as far as I understand stems mostly from the kilns used at Edgefield in the early 1800s. The term "groundhog kiln" wasn't even in use.The earliest reference I could find on Google books for the term "groundhog kiln" was 1944, and I suspect that it doesn't go much earlier than the late 19th-century.

Now let's go back to Brianna supposedly going to Salem and talking to the potters about their kiln. There isn't a chance one of those potters would have talked to her! The industrial quarters of the Moravian communities were off limits to many visitors, particularly women. Both the Pennsylvania and North Carolina Moravians used a system of having a "Fremden Diener" meet visitors to the town and guide them through the area based on their sex. In Bethlehem, as I understand, women went to see what the women's choirs were doing, and the men went to see the industrial things. I don't imagine this differed much in North Carolina. Much less that the Moravians were a closed community, meaning they did not allow visitors to freely wander through the town- some never made it past the tavern or inn, and may have only had the chance to attend a service at the church or listen to the music. The idea that Brianna went and learned trade secrets, much less enough to BUILD A KILN is flabbergasting. I didn't just go about building a kiln without years of research and the help and assistance of many potters and kiln builders.

We'll see if I make it through book six. I might lose my mind when Brianna magically fires up a successful kiln at first go. Sorry, Diana Gabaldon, you lost my ability to have any focus with these inaccuracies!

52 Form Project - Week 2

Larger vase I made several years ago on the left with smaller, recent version on the right

Last week was not a confidence-booster for the 52 Form Project (in which I am planning to make a new or modified form for every week of this year). I had in mind revisiting a form I made several years ago, and was not pleased with the initial results. I thought making a smaller version of the larger ring vase (as seen above) would make it less awkward looking and feeling. I made this form based on a love of the North Carolina Moravian's attempt at making tin-glazed earthenware and more particularly, this form:

Courtesy, Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture

If you want a great video to watch, check out this video of Michelle Erickson making a reproduction of the Moravian ring bottle:


I also thoroughly enjoy five finger vases, or early ceramic vases with five openings that are fairly flat, such as this:

Courtesy, Chipstone

Perhaps this was all a train wreck waiting to happen and these are forms that should not be combined. I did not like the clunky shape of the form. This is what the initial results were:

The last one above particularly reminded me too much of this (which is not necessarily a bad thing, but not something I want to make):

By the end of the week, I threw everything out of the window (not literally) and went back to the drawing board. I took in mind my love of the ruffly edge on antique earthenware flowerpots, such as this Chester County, Pennsylvania piece from 1827:

Courtesy, Colonial Sense

I combined it with my interest in the ring vessel and below is what I came up with. I think it will look nice with a touch of blue on the ruffled edges and maybe some slight modifications.

I think it will be a nice form to hold small buds of flowers or heads of larger flowers, such as my mock up with fake daisies:

Your input on this project would be greatly appreciated! I am hoping to gain some insight into what interest there may be for the forms I develop in the next 50 weeks and how I may make the forms different, or whether the forms are just too strange for selling!

On the Water and Back to the Moravians

I have been on the road attending the Society for Historical Archaeology meeting and doing research in Maryland. I participated in a panel on Southeastern Pennsylvania, which I plan to put a synopsis up about because it was a great discussion panel. It was great to go back to looking at my research on the Moravian potters of Pennsylvania.

 I felt very official at the Maryland Archaeology Conservation lab where I have been researching an early 19th-century Baltimore kiln site. I do not know whether the room just happens to have "Visiting Scientist" as an old office sign, or whether I get to consider myself a "scientist" and have my own room! I'm going to go for the latter! When I get the permissions, I will put some photos up of very exciting pieces from this kiln site!

The Maryland Archaeology Conservation lab is located on the water, where I saw this beautiful vision as I left the lab on Wednesday.

Retired archaeologist and ceramics scholar George Miller was awarded the J.C Harrington Medal in Historical Archaeology at the Society for Historical Archaeology meeting. Congrats, George! This is a photo from a panel about George's work and his influence in the work of other archaeologists and scholars. I feel honored to know George and gotten to spend time with him while at Winterthur.

George was the discussant for his own panel!

Name for the Farm!

Over the summer we purchased a farm. We have settled on a name for our farm! We have named the farm Emmaus Farm. Our focus is growing small grains, dry beans and garden vegetables using sustainable practices. The photograph above is of the wheat which was planted recently. The farm is named after the 18th-century Moravian agricultural community just southwest of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. When I was working on my Master's thesis on the Moravian potters in Bethlehem, I drove through Emmaus quite often. My other half and I have been impressed with the industriousness and culture of the 18th-century Moravians. When I was also working on my thesis we discovered that both of our families had Moravian connections. Very exciting!

Dish Camp

Things have been crazy! I am surprised I have had time to make any pottery! This past weekend I flew to New York where I attended and presented at Eastfield Village's Redware in America, 1650-1850 seminar. Each year, this is more fondly called "Dish Camp." I presented on the topic of my Master's thesis, the Moravian potters Pennsylvania. Johanna Brown from Old Salem Museum & Gardens presented on the Moravian potters of North Carolina, which made for a great dynamic and perspective on production.

People bring items and archaeological fragments for show and tell

People come from all over to attend and present at this workshop. There are different themes each year. There were quite a few archaeologists attending this year, which I thought was fantastic!

Between presentations there is a flurry of discussion and conversation over items brought in

Don Carpentier, who owns and runs Eastfield Village, is in the background

Greg Shooner, a potter from Ohio who reproduces lead-glazed (yes, real lead), often wood-fired pottery, came to present on the Shaker pottery of Union Village, Ohio, and do some demonstrations.

Greg Shooner demonstrated making slip-decorated, drape-molded dishes

This is his demonstration of applying slip-trailing on a wet ground

On Saturday evening everyone is provided a period meal cooked on the hearth and served by candlelight.

Flash photograph taken to show the delicious food!

Supper by candlelight

This year, Dr. David Barker from England (who presented on refined red earthenware bodies of England) brought his fiddle with him, I sang a few bawdy tunes and murder ballads, another attendee sang a German song, and we went up to the ballroom where we had a dance by the light of an 1830s Argand lamp!

Dr. David Barker playing the fiddle

Here are some photos of Eastfield Village:

The lane approaching Eastfield Village

This is a 19th-century church where the presentations are held!

Austin, Texas

Doorknob at the State Capitol in Austin, Texas

Texas was one of those states which seemed like an interesting place to go if I ever got the chance, but I didn't think it would be one of the states I would actually make it to someday (nothing against Texas!). Well, that changed when I was invited to present on a panel at the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) conference in Austin, Texas!

What in the world would you present at an archaeology conference, you might ask?
Well, my Master's thesis with the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture was on the Moravian potters and pottery of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Because there are no intact objects with firm attribution to the Bethlehem Moravian potters, the work was largely archaeological. By reassessing and analyzing archaeological material excavated in the 1970s, and doing a lot of archival research, I found some really great things.

Archaeological ceramic sherd excavated in the Moravian Industrial Quarter of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The dark red color is the lead glaze which remains on the red earthenware body, and the lined pattern is from the white slip trailing which has popped off. Courtesy, Historic Bethlehem.

Archaeological ceramic sherd excavated in the Moravian Industrial Quarter of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The yellow slip trailing is actually white, but appears yellow beneath the lead glaze. Green, white, and black were the three most prominant slip colors used. Courtesy, Historic Bethlehem.

The SHA conference presentation revolved around some archival evidence I found that the Bethlehem Moravian potters may have been sending pottery to the Virgin Islands. I have been working with Stephen Lenik who has been excavating in the Virgin Islands, and we have been comparing archaeological sherds from the Virgin Islands and Bethlehem (keep your eyes peeled, we're working on an article!).
    I also went to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum and got to see some mid-nineteenth century stoneware produced in Texas with alkaline glaze. I never realized that pottery was being produced as early as 1839 in Texas! I also got a chance to go and see the State Capitol and the rotunda inside:

State Capitol in Austin, Texas

Rotunda in State Capitol

And, in case you ever wondered where O'Henry lived in Austin, Texas for a few years before going to jail and then New York, well, here it is:

O'Henry House, Austin, Texas.