Dale Duncan on mon 17 oct 05
Greetings Everyone... This past Saturday, the 3rd Annual Burlon Craig =
Pottery=20
Festival was held at the Craig home place in Vale, North Carolina in =
honor of=20
one of the Carolina's most famous folk potters, the late Burlon Craig...
It was a super event that I thought might be of interest to the group.=20
What made this pottery festival different from others was the firing of=20
Burlon's "Ground Hog Kiln" on the day of the festival.=20
This is a huge old kiln built in the 1930's and will=20
hold anywhere from 400 to 600 pots. The last time Burlon's kiln was =
fired=20
was in 2000, so when I was asked if I would like to put some pots in the =
firing I jumped at the opportunity.=20
When I arrived at 8:00 AM to set up for the festival, the kiln was =
already=20
heating up. I'm not sure what time Don Craig (Burlon's son) started=20
the firing but it was early. By 2:00 in the afternoon small puffs of =
black=20
smoke could be seen rolling out of the chimney stack....By 6:00 that=20
evening Don and his pyro buddies were blasting off the kiln....
Flames were shooting out of the fire box and stack....it was hot...and I =
liked it. =20
There is something about firing a wood kiln that I never did get before=20
Saturday and I still cant really put it into words....All I can say is, =
that its a=20
real rush when they start blasting off the kiln. =20
All day long I kept slipping away from my booth (its a good thing=20
my wife Kate was there to watch over things) to take photos.=20
For those interested, I've posted some photos of the firing on my Fotki =
site...
http://public.fotki.com/DDuncan=20
I can't wait to see what comes out of the kiln on Tuesday!!!
Best Wishes Dale Duncan=20
York, SC
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