Gallery of Work

Currently most of my work is either pit fired or fired in an electric kiln. Pit fired work is definitely non-functional (not food safe or practical for daily use). While the electric kiln fired work is technically function some of the pieces are not recommended for daily use and were made for their aesthetic qualities above their practical qualities.

I'm in the process of collecting materials to build my dream kiln behind my studio. When complete it will be a 50-60 cu. ft. brick Salt/Soda kiln fired with natural gas. It has been a slow process to find and collect over 2,000 K23 hard bricks. pour a cement slab, plumb gas lines to the kiln, build a shed over the kiln, buy burners and shelves, and the myriad of other odds and ends that this project will entail.

When complete, the kiln will fire about 250 pieces in each firing. This type of firing has been around since the Germans invented the method sometime during the 15th century. The kiln is slowly heated to around 2300 degress fahernheit, at which point, rock salt is dumped into the kiln over a period of time. The salt instantly vaporizes in the intense heat and moves throughout the kiln interacting with the glazes and raw clay to create a distinct and amazing surface on the pots. With most firings where glaze is applied to wares details can be lost because of the thickness of the glaze. In a salt/soda firing, pots can have aglazed surface with color, and still reveal very fine details.

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