Mountains and Mountains of Stuff

This is grubby me, helping the potter guy gather and cut scrap wood for the kiln firing. Notice the chain saw in the foreground... it takes both of us to start it. One of us to hold it on the ground, the other to pull the cord. His hands are severely crippled from arthritis and I'm just a weakling, these days. Don't ever yank hard on the cord, while the saw is on the ground, unless the other person has a really good grip on the saw. It will hurt, and in places that you don't want to feel pain. I'm a nice person, eh? This is tough physical labor, which I do not like, no not at all. In fact, I hate firing the freaking wood fired kiln. It's pure torture and the only reason I am involved, at all, is because I am a nice person. This is my significant other's gig... and he's crazy to be doing this. He digs his own clay, gotta love him. He gathers his own scrap wood, gotta love him even more... and me, too, since I sometimes help with that. And he mixes his glazes from spent ash (from the previous firing), sand, water and clay. Yep, he's lovable. But, ya gotta love him even more, because it takes 36 hours of non-stop firing, back-breaking labor, to shine up one little pot. Keep in mind, the kiln is loaded with between 150 to 200 pots of various sizes, each firing. Just try staying up for 36 hours. It's torturous work in the summer, given the heat... it's not any easier, in the winter, not really. Just to give you an idea of how hot the kiln is... well, I was standing with my back to it, warming my hands, when I begin to smell burning hair. My hair was melting, that's right, melting. The kiln must reach a max of 2300 degrees in order for the pottery to vitrify. It's a slow and tedious process, the kiln must reach temperature very slowly, so that the pots do not crack. Any number of things can ruin a good firing, from high levels of humidity in the air, low barometric pressure, damp wood, not completely dried wood, wood with strange things on it, wind or rain. There's nothing worse than spending 36 miserable hours, only to find out the pots didn't shine up. When it's not any of the aforementioned complications, then sometimes it's the glaze, sometimes it's the clay.

This is the crazy guy, because you have to be crazy in order to do what he does. The slaves and old-timers would have given their right leg to have the ease of modern pottery making techniques. But, in order to get the old-time look, you do have to go that extra mile. I don't know if he'll every give it up, but it sure tears us down, physically. It would be tough, at any age, but it's certainly not easy, at our age. Here, he's all dressed up in his overalls and looking kinda tired.


This is him a few years ago. Nice eyes, they always were nice, his eyes.
























This is just me, playing with is image.

Nice chin, too.