Pit fire June 2010

What a great experience! And what a great group of creative people! As expected, I learned alot - and got very dirty! So all in all a fantastic weekend!

In blue here is Sam - our leader. She is an artist and instructor at the Genesee Pottery in Rochester. This pit fire was an experiment, of sorts - and even though she had done this type of thing before, this was a new pit, with different environmental elements, and a new collection of people. Also shown here is Diana (hat and braid) - in action, as always.

My pots before the fire. My shapes ended up to not be the most ideal for good results. More rounded is better so that the fire can hug the surface at some points, and pull away to create variations at others. Also, the cone 04 idea was wrong. I learned that you should leave the work more porous, not less - this helps the work to absorb more of the fire affects and chemical reactions.

Heres where all the excitement happened -- the pit! You can see the sawdust layering the bottom and our work being placed. Looks like a garbage dump, right? The foil was used to create affects, as well as hold in salt, miracle grow and other chemicals to hopefully create interesting affects. We discovered that all in all the foil only served to prevent more affects, rather that create them. At least in my case. Again, I think my higher fire bisque wear might have been the problem too.

I would be remiss is I didn't introduce our hostess. Here is Sandy (blue shirt, holding her pot) - she kindly lent her property (and hot dogs) to us. She allowed us to drive on her lawn, dig a hole in her yard, and in general create a big mess. And she loved every second of it!! Sorry if this isn't a direct quote Sandy - but here is the essence of her thought about the weekend's activities - 'For decades I've dreamed of having a collection of artist friends out to the property to do something wonderful - to work together to create and enjoy. Its just wonderful......and only potter's could truely appreciate (the beauty) of a hole in the ground.'
She was awesome! Thanks Sandy. Hope you don't mind, but we'll be back!!

And heres our mascot. This has got to be the calmest dog I've ever met!

OK - there will be more but I am realizing how much of a pain it is to download these images, so I think I will spread it out over the week. Gives me more material (and hopefully makes me more interesting). Tomorrow I'll have images of the fire and more of the group. Now I need to go wash the campfire smell out of my clothes (and possibly my truck!)

Oh - by the way - the website process is a complete pain and Hostway sucks! I have had the site done now for over a week, but my host can't seem to switch my reserve name over to a usable one (I HATE that I have to know this stuff!). In essence - I can't upload the site so you-all can see it! Hopefully I get it resolved in the next couple of days - or fire my host and get a new one.

No new mug today. I used up the batteries in my camera over the weekend - sorry!