Wood-fired Porcelain Bowl

Small bowl, wood-fired porcelain. 6″ across, 3.25″ tall.

This piece was fired in a large wood kiln in Missoula, Montana, under the supervision of artist Casey Zablocki. I feel fortunate to have been included in the process—I helped to load pots and Casey’s massive sculptures into the 15-foot-long anagama kiln. I worked a couple of shifts, splitting lumber and stoking the roaring fire while wet snow fell silently on the pine trees around the clearing.

This bowl went into the kiln as raw, white porcelain clay. The ash from all that split lumber was carried through the kiln by the draft of a chimney 20 feet tall, landed on the glowing hot porcelain, and melted into the dimpled white glaze you see here. The sweeping strokes of orange are areas of clay that was only brushed by the flame, but did not accumulate ash. These areas of orange flashing are smooth next to the softly textured ash glaze.