I'm taking part in a new wood firing using all recycled materials from the land, specifically mining waste of Cornwall.
I am so excited to be doing this - I saw these courses run last year and thought "oh to be a part of that world" and this year I'm actually doing it! I've got 1 wood firing under my belt, two batches of wild clay fired at home from my own digging and am way more versed in what glaze chemistry is after another year of nearly full-time pottery life.
This course, run by Rosemary, will be based around the old St Austell China clay mines and focus on foraging for wild clay in Cornwall, burning local plants for ash glazes, turning mining waste into clay slips and then firing a fast-fire kiln for 24 hours to see how everything we make turns out. I'll be taking some of my St Agnes clay with me, keeping it Cornish all the way, but I'm excited to make things in situ as well.
It'll be a fun hark-back to my month in Norway, with no amenities on site, out in the elements with our good old compost toilet, making and talking pots every day. I honestly cannot wait.
A massive thank you to my mum, sister and friends for contributing to the cost of the course for my birthday. I couldn't do this without their help.
Things I'm most excited to learn:
the process of turning local plants into glaze
Identifying materials in the ground and being able to LOOSELY predict what they'll do in a firing
learning about identifying clays in the ground and problem solving any issues with them during making
the process of a fast-firing.
the firing in did in Norway was 6 days long, constantly stoking until we got to 1300+ degrees. This will reach similar temperatures but in just 1 day so I am curious to see how this will work and what the rate of breakages will be as a result.
As with my Norway trip, I am a bit nervous about being in a group of strangers but I'm feeling much calmer than if I'd not done the Norway thing. I'm slowly getting braver!
I'll do a follow-up post about what happened throughout the week, maybe even daily posts as I journal the experience. Stay tuned.
Comments