Women Who Fire With Wood.

I’m one of them.

The group-Claire Byrne, Marian Williams, Lorraine Emmanuel, Ann Lee, Ronda Luland.
Beau and Morgan – assisted with the cutting of the wood.
Ronda Luland having fun gathering wood!
Lorraine Emmanuel assisting in the wood loading.

We load wood.  Stack wood.  Clean shelves, load the kiln, make pots FOR a wood firing.

After each firing, I say to myself, “I’m NOT going to do that again.  It’s too much work.  Results are often if’y” –  but then the next woodfiring comes around and there I am…right in the middle of the whole process.

So I ask myself, “WHY!”

Well, I found this old article in Ceramics Monthly, entitled, “Women Who Fire With Wood”, that says it beautifully.

Please summarise the story in one sentence
Ceramics Monthly Article

“It may also be the magic of community, seeing friends’ faces lit by a ten-foot foxtail of flame shooting out the chimney (wood firing is rarely done alone), and the knowledge they are a constant participant in the “becoming” of the pot that drives most of these women to gather, split, stack and stoke wood into the fiery inferno of the kiln. 

In fact, the bulk of labor involved in the wood-firing process totally lacks romance or magic, but the hours of scraping shelves, wadding ware and preparing the wood lead to those precious moments when the kiln seems to breathe, and the resulting pots capture a memory of that experience.  

Whatever their individual reasons may be for firing with wood, the group as a whole is undaunted by the difficult process, and purposefully chooses to create works that demand the direct touch of the flame.”

And that’s the point isn’t it.  We do it for the fun, the camaraderie, the passion, the fire!

woodfiring pottery-burnpile-wood
Marian Williams and Ann Lee- aren’t we funny!
woodfiring pottery-burnpile-wood
Ann Lee serving up the lovely Damper Bread made by Claire Byrne and cooked in the coals of the kiln.
woodfiring pottery-burnpile-wood
Ann Lee in the kiln loading the pots while Ronda Luling assists.
woodfiring pottery-burnpile-wood
The kiln shed – loading pots!

The results…well, some are good and some are bad…but we will do it again as soon as we get our energy back!

A beautiful leaf created by Lorraine Emmanuel.
Claire Byre looking over some of the woodfiring results.
Tara’s lovely handbuilt bottle.
Handbuilt bowl with cone 6 glazes.
Tray with green glaze.
A casserole with Cone 6 glazes – a refire.

Peace out my lovelies!

Marian