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Sometimes I make a maquette before I begin a figure. Inevitably as I get going the idea fades, then the clay and my hands create the shapes. The wood-firing has the final say as the flames and hot ash swirl around the body of clay. Very often the gesture, the presence of the finished piece surprises me too.
Clay
I choose to work with a Georgia clay used for making red brick. It comes straight from the mine with the variation in particle size that occurs naturally. The clay has a wonderful texture that guides my hands to make the shapes that I make. This feeling of the clay is an integral element of the finished pieces.
This clay becomes vitreous at 2150 F, the temperature we fire in the back half of the anagama kiln. The long wood firing at the relatively low stoneware temperature brings out the soft clay colors, layered with a dusting of ash that compliment the forms.
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