Kiln Progress - Walls!

Walls on the kiln!

 As of late last week the walls are all up. We started cutting up the metal for the welding and began putting things together this evening. Wood is starting to get stacked up and dried out, and (hopefully!) things will continue progressing this week!

Testing Slips and Decorations

Marbling in the bottom of a bowl

Ever since I first researched marbled decoration on red earthenwares in Southeastern Pennsylvania and watched a few demonstrations of how it is done, I have been itching to make a few. I decided since this first kiln firing will basically be a test firing to me, I'm testing a few new slips and decorations. The colors I used on these bowls are white and red, which could turn out white and brown, but under an ash glaze, I don't know what the results will be!

Marbled bowls

Marbled bowls

 And guess what?! Some of you may remember the ornaments I made last winter, well, I decided since Halloween candy is already out in stores, why not start on holiday decorations too? For my first test kiln I will be testing a few ornaments! The decoration on the one below may be hard to see, but I'm hoping there will be pretty blues!

Decorated ornament

Robber Fly Visitor

 Having a studio on my porch has been interesting if anything just for the insect visitors I get to see on a daily basis. The mosquitoes are not so fun, but recently I was visited by a robber fly who had captured a small fly and spent a while hanging out on my drying pots.

If I understand it correctly, they are like parasitic wasps and inject their eggs into the other insect. When their eggs hatch the new robber flies will eat the fly from the inside out - disgusting but fascinating!

Kiln Building Progress

Walls on the kiln about 1/2 way up!

Things are starting to look a little more kiln-like out at Emmaus Farm! I have been balancing making pots with building the kiln in order to (hopefully) fire the kiln shortly after finishing the construction.Getting in from the heat in the afternoon has been helpful, but trying to drag myself back out in the evening to work has been a struggle!

Chimney getting tied in to the back of the kiln

The base for the chimney ate up some time. This whole thing is like a big game of Tetris, trying to figure out where to place a brick without having to cut too much, and how to level everything out. Once that was out of the way things have been rolling a little more smoothly.

Base for the chimney

I have been grateful to my other half and my family who have been helping me clean brick, finish the roof over the kiln, cut brick, and generally keep me partially sane. I would estimate that between moving brick and throwing clay I have been handling between 700 and 1,000 pounds of materials each day. I am officially exhausted! In other news, we had a big storm the other day here in Liberty that resulted in a gorgeous full double rainbow just across the street from our house! These photos don't do justice to how beautiful it was, and don't show the second rainbow quite as well.

Messy Details

Dusty shoes after cleaning brick

 Happy August! Building a kiln involves much more work than just throwing some bricks up (which I knew was never going to be the case)! Since my museum adventure hiatus was officially over the other week, I have been working hard to get the remaining brick cleaned (hence the dusty shoes), and get a roof over the kiln.It's always the small, messy details that make things seem to take much longer! Hopefully there will be walls and most of the chimney next week with a potential firing this month! Nothing like picking a hot month for a first kiln firing! Stay cool!

Nailing away on the purlins

Decker Tennessee Pottery

 Last week while in Tennessee with the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts I had the pleasure of going to the Tennessee State Museum and seeing the shop items from the Charles Decker pottery shop from the Keystone Pottery in the Nolichucky Valley of Tennessee. The pottery operated in the last quarter of the nineteenth-century into the early twentieth-century. The photo above is of the wooly bunch from the Decker pottery, with Charles Decker pictured in the upper right at the wheel.

Items from the shop of Charles Decker

 This photograph below is of the pottery shop at the Decker pottery. The chimney coming out of the center of the building is the kiln!

Photograph of the pottery shop and kiln

 This wheel below was used at the Decker pottery and was left in the shop. Luckily it was salvaged and donated to the museum.

Pottery wheel used at the Decker pottery

 Here are some tools below that were used in the shop and found at the shop. I was told that the edges fit many of the Decker pieces in the collection.

Ribs and molds used at the Decker pottery

Ribs and molds used at the Decker pottery

 These amazing pieces below were made by Charles Decker, Jr. They are advertising pieces that were placed in the yard. I was told by the registrar at the museum that when they were found they were covered in grass and vines and still sitting in the yard as they had been for the previous 100 years or so. Check out this site for more information on the Decker's and their pottery.

Stoneware advertising monuments

Tomorrow I wrap up the Summer Institute at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts with a presentation on my project looking at three pieces of Kentucky stoneware. I'll try to get some photos up and share what I have learned about these pieces in the coming week!

Off to Tennessee!

Southern pottery. Courtesy, the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.

 So sorry I have not posted in some time, the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts' Summer Institute has kept me on my toes and very busy! I am heading to Tennessee for a study trip into the Volunteer State, and am very excited to see really neat decorative arts, architecture and pottery! The above photo is a great display at MESDA with Tennessee potter on the left, North Carolina pottery in the middle, and South Carolina pottery on the right. I am incredibly excited to see more Tennessee pottery.

Taking apart the secret compartments of a desk. Courtesy, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.

The whole program has been really fantastic for all of the lectures on the Southern backcountry. It has also been a great opportunity to handle collections pieces. I have been working on a project related to a group of Kentucky stoneware in the collection at MESDA, which I hope to share more about in the coming week. Hope you all are staying cool, it has been in the 100s here in North Carolina!