Tuesday, January 17, 2006

OSV Pottery Shop


This was the main attraction for me, and I think for my daughter too. Thursday the pottery shop was closed up and you could only look at the outside of the building.


This big bruiser is a beehive kiln, must be 16 feet tall. It takes two people three days and 2 1/2 cords of wood to fire. That's around the clock stoking from a pile of wood stacked 10 ft by 10 ft by 8 ft. I was impressed. Thank goodness we have electric kilns with computer controlled heat cycles.



So, we went back on Saturday, a relatively warm dark rainy day. When we got to the pottery shop they were giving a class to neophytes, and we really didn't get to talk to the potter that much. Oh Well!


This is their glaze mill. Hand powered, you pour the ingredients in the hole at the top, along with water, and crank the pole around and around. The finished glaze pours out into a bucket from a hole in the front


Using minerals and clay that are in the area, this servicable pottery is in the typical colors of the era. Their pottery was the every day sort, meant to be used and when broken, thrown away. the fine china for the best tables was all imported from europe, and highly prized and coddled.

7 Comments:

Blogger wanda said...

I love natural pottery. Keep that fine china, I'll take the good old fashioned stuff any day.

7:32 PM, January 17, 2006  
Blogger TFLS said...

I've always wanted to throw pots - never learned, but it's something I plan to indulge myself in one day. I envy you being able to do that. So cool!

11:12 PM, January 17, 2006  
Blogger SB Gypsy said...

Hey Wanda,

Me too, especially after seeing the "fine" porcelin of that era - too overly decorated for my taste. I can see how the victorian era birthed the arts and crafts movement.

Hey FLS,
...and I totally envy how you write! You make it seem so effortless.

6:59 AM, January 18, 2006  
Blogger andi said...

actually i kinda liked the outside of the pottery shop - that climbing green tinge is cool - whether it's old paint or new mold, doesn't matter - visually it's still neat.

11:08 AM, January 18, 2006  
Blogger robin andrea said...

I love that pottery. I also dream of working with clay someday. I love functional art.

6:15 PM, January 18, 2006  
Blogger oldwhitelady said...

The outside of the building is pretty neat looking. What is the green stuff? Moss?

12:50 AM, January 21, 2006  
Blogger SB Gypsy said...

Hey Andi, that's moss. New England is the moss capital of the world, it seems sometimes. It's been raining alot since September, and the moss doesn't stop unless it's freezing, and even then...

Hey RD,

I had an art teacher once who totally dissed the practical arts, even tho I think it takes way more talent to decorate a functional piece, without ruining it, than it does to decorate a piece of canvas.

Hey, OWL, you got it. Moss is everywhere. I have a watergarden in our basement family room, and it's even growing in that waterfall, along with a tiny fern!

3:20 PM, January 21, 2006  

Post a Comment

<< Home

/* sjg */ Site Meter /* sjg */