Nice video. It shows there are many ways to get the job done without having a studio kiln. The kiln conference was like going to Disney Land for replica potters.
Wow, I envy you guys the dry ground you have in the Southwest. I can't do pit firings where I live, or even ground surface open firings, because the ground always has some moisture and if you dig down into the ground, the hole will fill with water. Even in the hottest, driest summer weeks, the ground water is never more than a couple of feet below grade level. No basements here! I have to build firing areas or small brick kilns on a platform of flat stones or cement or bricks. And our wood has to be stored under cover and is almost never dry enough to use straight from the woods, even if standing dead. It's good for growing mushrooms, though!
Wow, you must live in a swamp. Maybe you can build a little platform to fire on, in Hopi many of the potters build a little block pedestal to fire on, this lifts the pottery away from the cold, damp ground. I even know a woman in South Africa who fires in an old wheelbarrow and a bathtub. Be creative.
@@AncientPottery Actually, I do live in a rainforest, and the post-glacial geology means that water is trapped between layers of clay and gravel. We have wonderful abundant spring water and a thick layer of fertile topsoil and sod, but just underneath is clay and water! The clay, however, is fantastic and can take very high temps, firing to a white color. I do have a small brick kiln on top of a layer of gravel and concrete blocks. I used a double layer of bricks so the kiln is more insulated against our cool, rainy climate. I just can't do the quick and easy open-pit firings you guys are lucky enough to do.
Andy, I love your videos and have been binge-watching them! It's so refreshing to see pottery videos that show how to get into making pottery without expensive kilns, equipment, commercial clay or expensive, toxic glaze materials! For years I was frustrated because, although I have abundant natural clay all around, I could not afford a kiln or much of the equipment that most ceramic artists seem to have. Most of them focus on stoneware and talk about how you have to bisque-fire pottery in an electric (expensive!) kiln before wood-firing and how you have to have or build a huge kiln like an anagama, made out of expensive fire bricks, in order to reach the high temperatures needed to fire stoneware or porcelain (like cone 10!). I was always left wondering how our ancestors thousands of years ago managed to make and use pottery without all those things!
Great way to start my morning ! Watching kiln conference fire video was very nice. Enjoyed seeing various firing techniques. Really hope to join next year and as always, thanks for sharing Andy !
@@AncientPottery we have several nice locations in Deming . One thought is a winery with nice grounds for events it along with a nice conference room plus it’s about a mile from a ruin and an old farm I could maybe get permission for firings, it’s also a clay source . Anyway just some thoughts .
@@AncientPottery I’m sure you have connections as well from the grant county area , also would be a great location. There is also a private camp ground suitable right on the mimbres river and not far from silver city . Anyway you got me thinking about it. Lol
I've been enjoying many of your videos. I have a sort of off topic question. I am interested in making bonsai pots using primitive methods. Would clay fired using primitive methods be able to stand up to conditions needed for temperate trees, which would mean being exposed to wet and freeze thaw cycles? Thank you, you do wonderful videos.
I think Andy is right; freezing will cause spalling unless you use special techniques. Try a heavily-grogged sculptural clay body and fire it to the highest temp it can withstand to fully vitrify it. Then it won't absorb water and won't spall during cold spells, and will withstand thermal shock (temperature extremes) much better.
does using manure make the pottery not food safe or is it ok becuase it gets burned to carbon also doeds it smell ? ps great video keep up the good work 👍
Thanks. In the fire the manure is completely burned away and leaves just sterile ash. So it does not offer any chance of contaminating the food in the pot.
Nice video. It shows there are many ways to get the job done without having a studio kiln. The kiln conference was like going to Disney Land for replica potters.
Thanks. So much to learn in such a small time, it's hard to capture it all.
Very fascinating to see how many different ways of firing pottery, and they all produced nice looking pots.
Yes, there are many ways of getting it done. Lots to learn here. Thanks
Trying to start your chainsaw while Andy films and narrates 😂 omg i love this channel. The real reality tv
LOL
I sure hope to be there next year! Hearing that saw finally start up at the end got a deep chuckle out of me.
Ha! I kept the camera running on the saw because I wanted to see it start and then it started while I was filming something else.
Wow, I envy you guys the dry ground you have in the Southwest. I can't do pit firings where I live, or even ground surface open firings, because the ground always has some moisture and if you dig down into the ground, the hole will fill with water. Even in the hottest, driest summer weeks, the ground water is never more than a couple of feet below grade level. No basements here! I have to build firing areas or small brick kilns on a platform of flat stones or cement or bricks. And our wood has to be stored under cover and is almost never dry enough to use straight from the woods, even if standing dead. It's good for growing mushrooms, though!
Wow, you must live in a swamp. Maybe you can build a little platform to fire on, in Hopi many of the potters build a little block pedestal to fire on, this lifts the pottery away from the cold, damp ground. I even know a woman in South Africa who fires in an old wheelbarrow and a bathtub. Be creative.
@@AncientPottery Actually, I do live in a rainforest, and the post-glacial geology means that water is trapped between layers of clay and gravel. We have wonderful abundant spring water and a thick layer of fertile topsoil and sod, but just underneath is clay and water! The clay, however, is fantastic and can take very high temps, firing to a white color.
I do have a small brick kiln on top of a layer of gravel and concrete blocks. I used a double layer of bricks so the kiln is more insulated against our cool, rainy climate. I just can't do the quick and easy open-pit firings you guys are lucky enough to do.
Thanks so much!!! this video was great I learned a lot!
Glad it was helpful!
Andy, I love your videos and have been binge-watching them! It's so refreshing to see pottery videos that show how to get into making pottery without expensive kilns, equipment, commercial clay or expensive, toxic glaze materials! For years I was frustrated because, although I have abundant natural clay all around, I could not afford a kiln or much of the equipment that most ceramic artists seem to have. Most of them focus on stoneware and talk about how you have to bisque-fire pottery in an electric (expensive!) kiln before wood-firing and how you have to have or build a huge kiln like an anagama, made out of expensive fire bricks, in order to reach the high temperatures needed to fire stoneware or porcelain (like cone 10!). I was always left wondering how our ancestors thousands of years ago managed to make and use pottery without all those things!
Thank you. I agree, pottery does not have to be complicated or expensive but they can sure make it seem that way.
real nice! thank you
Glad you like it!
I AM thinking of coming next year!! Great video!!!
Awesome! Thank you!
While being purely coincidental, that voiceover had strong summations to a remote-hosted Garrison Keillor. 😉
Thanks, I love Garrison Keillor.
Great way to start my morning ! Watching kiln conference fire video was very nice. Enjoyed seeing various firing techniques. Really hope to join next year and as always, thanks for sharing Andy !
Thanks Jeff. It would be great to have the conference in the Mimbres area some time.
@@AncientPottery agreed ! I got lots of connections if you want to look into it
@@AncientPottery we have several nice locations in Deming . One thought is a winery with nice grounds for events it along with a nice conference room plus it’s about a mile from a ruin and an old farm I could maybe get permission for firings, it’s also a clay source . Anyway just some thoughts .
@@AncientPottery I’m sure you have connections as well from the grant county area , also would be a great location. There is also a private camp ground suitable right on the mimbres river and not far from silver city . Anyway you got me thinking about it. Lol
some say bills still there trying to get that saw going
He is, LOL
👍
Could you please explain the etymology of "doublee doo".
Sure thing Bob, check this out. www.dictionary.com/e/slang/dooblydoo/
@@AncientPottery Thanks, I didn't know it was a real word.
Comeon bill
Man, I was disappointed in that saw
@@AncientPottery I don't know why you would mess around with it for so long
I've been enjoying many of your videos. I have a sort of off topic question. I am interested in making bonsai pots using primitive methods. Would clay fired using primitive methods be able to stand up to conditions needed for temperate trees, which would mean being exposed to wet and freeze thaw cycles? Thank you, you do wonderful videos.
Thanks!
I think that freezing temperatures might cause spalling in ceramics that have absorbed water.
I think Andy is right; freezing will cause spalling unless you use special techniques. Try a heavily-grogged sculptural clay body and fire it to the highest temp it can withstand to fully vitrify it. Then it won't absorb water and won't spall during cold spells, and will withstand thermal shock (temperature extremes) much better.
does using manure make the pottery not food safe or is it ok becuase it gets burned to carbon also doeds it smell ? ps great video keep up the good work 👍
Thanks. In the fire the manure is completely burned away and leaves just sterile ash. So it does not offer any chance of contaminating the food in the pot.
@@AncientPottery thanks for the info :)
Lololol it must be a primitive chainsaw
No doubt