Liz Willoughby on thu 20 may 04
Hello Claybuds,
I have been on "nomail" for over a week. During that time I took
part in a kiln building (a variation of Peg Udal's kiln) workshop,
plus firing. There were 14 of us and the leader was Mark Peters. It
took place at Monica Johnston and Paulus Tjiang's, they live 20
minutes from me.
I have never worked so hard. There were shelves to clean, bricks to
clean, bricks to cut, mortar to mix, castable to mix, an arch to
build, and then the kiln to build. The kiln was built from Monday to
Friday, stacked and set to slowly heat on Saturday night. Our days
started at 8 and usually ended at 9 pm. By Saturday, we began
forgetting about all the hard work, and stood in awe of what we had
accomplished.
The feelings that developed between us, will never be forgotten. I
don't think that I have ever experienced such emotion.
The icing on the cake is that it was a wonderful firing. Lots of
ash, firing up to cone 10/11 throughout the kiln. Many of the
participants had never fired in a wood kiln before and they left with
wonderful work.
I cannot recommend Mark Peters enough. He is thoughtful, and
careful, making sure that everything was perfect. Or as he would
say, "Purrfect enough". A superb craftsman, and the kiln is a work
of art.
When he had to leave, the kiln's door was 1/2 down, we formed a ring
and said a few things. Hugs and tears...... he said he had never had
such an experience himself.
Dear Claybuds, whatever is going on right now on clayart, remember we
are family. We feud, but we make up.
Meticky Liz from Grafton, Ontario, Canada
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