GLAZING

Will Ruggles and Douglass Rankin of Rock Creek Pottery introduced me to international folk pots made from less refined natural materials and to utilizing local clays. Through their teaching I came to know that the minerals which compose clay and glaze are alive with inherent characteristics. This liveliness can remain in a finished fired pot and grow through use in the home.

In the late 1990’s as a Resident Artist at Penland School of Craft, I tested local feldspar, white kaolin and sandy red clay in my wood burning kiln. These minerals are still important ingredients in my pots along with other local materials from Georgia. Ashes from my wood stove which melt into glass above 2000° F are used as the primary flux in the glazes.

The rich, rustic effects achieved by using wild materials mixed with more processed ones keeps an element of unpredictability in my making process. Each kiln load varies and provides new information for the next.