Fredrick Paget on sun 1 jan 12
We are sitting here on fine earthenware clay beds that I call
"Mill Valley Gold". It fires out to a bright orange red at cone 04. I
think, from the few meager tests I have done at high temperatures,
that it will go up into the stoneware range. It also makes a great
glaze with fruit wood ash, and again I have only done a couple of
tests of that. In late years I have been working with porcelain and
so have pretty much avoided the MV Gold to keep it out of the
porcelain.
The clay is under about 3 or 4 feet of topsoil so it is not easy to
get. This is an upscale neighborhood and covered in million dollar
houses with gardens or paving on every spare inch. Over the years I
have watched for anybody in our neighborhood who is excavating on
their property and dumping clay from the hole, so I have a few
hundred pounds of it stashed away.
Marin county is full of clay beds and shale that was used in the
early days to make bricks to rebuild San Francisco after the great
quake and fire of 1906.
There is a great big Hoffman Kiln on the point just north of San
Quentin StatePrison that is still standing with its enormous brick
chimney. Like everything else around here it has been converted. Now
it's an office complex in the mill building and a fancy restaurent
inside the kiln structure.
A Hoffman kiln is described on Google if you are interested. This
one is about the size of a football field and is oval in shape. It is
made of brick and now the inside has been hollowed out and cleaned
and decorated to make a Fondue restaurant inside it. The mighty 100
foot high brick chimney is a landmark and the quarry for the shale
was the location for the final scenes of the first Dirty Harry movie.
The quarry was filled in and is now covered by a shopping center,
offices and condos.
Fred Paget
--
Twin Dragon Studio
Mill Valley, CA, USA
| |
|
