Gary Navarre on fri 24 sep 04
Welcome to the artsy/craft of wood firing, Ted,
Got a match? I'm glad you asked questions before lighting up. I finally
figured out how to search Goggle for wood fired pottery. Tons of sites.
Read one guys bit about how wood firing is sweeping the planet and the
seashell spots are almost a cliche. Now we need to guard against being a
hazard to the environment, and that's veteran wood firers. The first
thing is location. I might have "gotten away with it" in downtown
Kalamazoo in the mid 70's, not today. There is an impressive Anagama in
Kalamazoo but it is on the outskirts of town in a gravel pit. I've been
fortunate over the years in not having a disaster firing kilns only
because I, like all those you so admire, studyed, studyed, practiced
burning barrel firing, meditated, studyed, started with a beehive,
fired, studyed more. When I came up there were few places with teachers
who weren't scared to fire with wood. I even had one fella tell me it
was hard on trees. That turned me on to learning how to trim trees and
eventually work in the woods. As Terry Teal, one of my forest product
buyers, says "You can always make money in the woods!" I made a couple
grand the last few years and the big plus is I got all the fuel I can
carry. Oh, ya, and I don't have to cut the trees down.
I'll be reposting my series on gathering wood in Fotki soon for those
that might be able to adapt the woods work to their situation, unless
you get scrap yard wood. Then I'm just blowin pine smoke.
G. in Da U.P.
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