Brad Sondahl on tue 2 mar 99
In the early 70's my first pottery partner and I heard that the Red Wing
kiln was being sold for scrap--10 cents per brick. It was a daunting
structure: 8 ft high and probably a city block long. The weight of the
world of manufactury hung on it. The rail was gone, and half of the
tunnel had been salvaged before we got there. As I recall, the walls
were two courses of hard fire brick, with about of foot of powdered clay
(likely the stoneware clay Red Wing pottery was made from), held in by
another course of bricks on the outside. There were large special
trapezoidal bricks at the top of the wall to start the arch, and a
special key brick in the middle. Every six or 8 ft there were ports for
admitting heat, presumably natural gas... I wish I could have seen it
in action, and would enjoy hearing accounts of large kilns from potters
that have seen them in function.
There were also bits of molds lying about-- I brought home a mold for a
mug handle. It was interesting to think of them molding each handle
separately, and slipping them on...
I imagine most of the potters in Minnesota and Wisconsin at that time
heard of that salvage deal, and many participated. And most of those
are now in other walks of life, just as the Red Wing pottery ran up
against what I presume was the growing public indifference to pickle
crocks... (yes I know they made tableware too, but it's the crocks most
people associate with Red Wing...)
So the image haunts me...
--
Brad Sondahl
http://www.camasnet.com/~asondahl/bradindex.html
Sondahl homepage http://www.camasnet.com/~asondahl
Original literature, music, pottery, and art
Brad Sondahl on tue 2 mar 99
In the early 70's my first pottery partner and I heard that the Red Wing
kiln was being sold for scrap--10 cents per brick. It was a daunting
structure: 8 ft high and probably a city block long. The weight of the
world of manufactury hung on it. The rail was gone, and half of the
tunnel had been salvaged before we got there. As I recall, the walls
were two courses of hard fire brick, with about of foot of powdered clay
(likely the stoneware clay Red Wing pottery was made from), held in by
another course of bricks on the outside. There were large special
trapezoidal bricks at the top of the wall to start the arch, and a
special key brick in the middle. Every six or 8 ft there were ports for
admitting heat, presumably natural gas... I wish I could have seen it
in action, and would enjoy hearing accounts of large kilns from potters
that have seen them in function.
There were also bits of molds lying about-- I brought home a mold for a
mug handle. It was interesting to think of them molding each handle
separately, and slipping them on...
I imagine most of the potters in Minnesota and Wisconsin at that time
heard of that salvage deal, and many participated. And most of those
are now in other walks of life, just as the Red Wing pottery ran up
against what I presume was the growing public indifference to pickle
crocks... (yes I know they made tableware too, but it's the crocks most
people associate with Red Wing...)
So the image haunts me...
--
Brad Sondahl
http://www.camasnet.com/~asondahl/bradindex.html
Sondahl homepage http://www.camasnet.com/~asondahl
Original literature, music, pottery, and art
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