knik at kodiak on sun 1 sep 02
Hello from Alaska!
Thankyou John,
I really appreciate you taking the time to send this post. I've seen the
Alaska clay slipware and to be honest don't care for it. I wanted to do
something ... different. I really loved digging the clay we found and
our children had a ball too. Potter's children must have the most fun of
all even their parents like to play in the mud! Now they know that clay
comes from the earth. I will be checking the Ancorage University for the
recipe. Hope I can jog their memory. Wow! Am I excited!
We processed the clay by hand mixing the wet clay into extra water
making it a thick slip. Then strained it through a metal spaggheti
strainer and then through a paint strainer (a mesh cap that fit over a
five gallon bucket. We got a lot of sand out. Then we set the buckets in
a hot, damp furnace room. It is almost ready to wedge now. But I know it
won't work like this. So, I will contact the university for their clay
body recipe.
Thanks again,
Marilynn
Winter's on the way. The fireweed has bloomed to the top, it's dark by 9
o'clock, and the temp. is dropping to 40's at night. Up north they've
had frosts.
John Rodgers on sun 1 sep 02
knik at kodiak wrote:
> Hello from Alaska!
>
> Thankyou John,
>
> I really appreciate you taking the time to send this post. I've seen the
> Alaska clay slipware and to be honest don't care for it.
I didn't care for it either, but it sold well so we made it. Can't begin to tell
you how much of that stuff we moved. But there is another story. One day a volcano
erupted nearby --- and thereby hangs another clay tale.....
One morning in April I awoke early, before light, and went out on the front deck
overlooking the lake where I lived. It had been snowing the night before and there
was about 4 inches or so on the deck. I noticed it seemed darker out that usual for
that time of year, and that the snow seemed to "crunch" a lot when I walked but
didn't look down where I had been walking until I turned to go back inside. I did
notice that the snow out on the lake and about seemed not to be very bright. And
that was odd. When I turned around, I saw that my footprints were a bright white
against a darker snow surface. It struck me immediately!! Ashfall!! Mount Redoubt
across Cook Inlet from Kenai had erupted and had dumped ash all over the area. The
warm dark ash landing on the snow instantly melted the snow and it refroze, making
a crunchy crust. After sunrise , if you could call it that, on that morning there
was a lot of volcanic dust in the air, I went around and scooped the crust and put
it into buckets to melt. When it melted the ash settled to the bottom and water
went to the top. I poured off the water, and we used the ash in our clay. Normally
for slip casting of that red and white stuff you use two pitchers, one white clay,
one dark clay slip, and you pour the slip into the molds in a certain way to get
the marbling effect. I made up a third slip with the ash in it and we poured three
pitchers. Boy if that wasn't an exercise. Anyway, the results were stunning. The
Redoubt Ash made beautiful mauve hues in the clay with a pepper speckle in it. It
was incredible. But sadly when the ash was gone, we were unable to duplicate it.
When Mt. Logan erupted across from Anchorage, Anchorage got a lot of ashfall, and
we really got a good collection of ash then. But it was not the same quality ash as
Mt. Redoubt, and we never again got the beautiful colors quite the same. Nice, but
not quite as beautiful.
There are tremendous opportunities on Kodiak for experimentation with the raw
materials there. There are a couple of beaches where there is fine flake gold in
the sand. Black sand. Not worth mining, but may be worth something if made up into
a clay product. Both the san and/or the gold. Who knows. A study of the minerology
of the Island there at the community college might open to door for you for some
really interesting adventures, both on the island hunting the minerals, and in your
studio makeing stuff from what you find. I encourage you to pursue it. Knowing what
I do now about clay.....well, I envy you. What an opportunity.
> I wanted to do
> something ... different. I really loved digging the clay we found and
> our children had a ball too. Potter's children must have the most fun of
> all even their parents like to play in the mud! Now they know that clay
> comes from the earth. I will be checking the Ancorage University for the
> recipe. Hope I can jog their memory. Wow! Am I excited!
>
> We processed the clay by hand mixing the wet clay into extra water
> making it a thick slip. Then strained it through a metal spaggheti
> strainer and then through a paint strainer (a mesh cap that fit over a
> five gallon bucket. We got a lot of sand out. Then we set the buckets in
> a hot, damp furnace room. It is almost ready to wedge now. But I know it
> won't work like this. So, I will contact the university for their clay
> body recipe.
>
> Thanks again,
> Marilynn
>
> Winter's on the way. The fireweed has bloomed to the top, it's dark by 9
> o'clock, and the temp. is dropping to 40's at night. Up north they've
> had frosts.
I sure miss all that. Loved to watch the season pass by watching the stages of the
fireweed. On the Kenai, you could almost time the first frosts with the topping out
of the Firewee seed pods drying out. When the last pods on top of the stalk dried
and burst open, frosts would occur shortly there after.
Enjoy.
If you ever get together any pictures of what you are doing, I would love to see
them.
Thanks
John Rodgers
Susan Morissette on mon 2 sep 02
Hello from Connecticut, I read your letter about Mt. Redoubt ash. I have
some here. I have a cousin who lives in Kenai, the town, who I have visited
twice. I love it up there!! Anyway, she gave me some bags of ash from
Redoubt and a couple of other volcanoes, which I wasn't sure what I was going
to use them for. You guys may be a wealth of knowledge for me reguarding the
ashes. I have to share a story about my cousin who was so kind and
thoughtful. She came east to visit me, and packed a ziploc bag full of ash
in her suit case. On the way over the bag burst and created such a mess.
She says she will never do that again. It's nice to hear about weather and
changes happening over there at present. Thank you for sharing that. Susan
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