Iterations: development of the Birch collection
At the start of January, the UK found itself at the start of another national lockdown. It took some time for it to sink in that this meant that I would be unable to make the trip to my friend’s kiln to fire pots for an unknown length of time. So, I started looking into purchasing and installing a kiln of my own. Our landlords checked on their building insurance and I got the okay to put a small plug-in kiln in our garage. My own kiln! I didn’t think I’d be in a position to fire my own work for some time, so to be in a place where I was researching kiln insulation, thermocouples and electrical requirements was an unexpected silver lining to lockdown.
After deciding on a kiln, buying it, waiting for it to arrive, and then getting it settled into the garage, I started work on developing a new range of ash glazes using silver birch ash from a local wood-fired pizza business – ash that would otherwise go to waste.
After washing, sieving, and drying the ash, I set to work on a sub-section of a 66-point triaxial blend. Last year, I tested oilseed rape straw ash in a full 66-point triaxial blend at Blackhills Pottery, working with potters John Christie and Mélanie Chevalier. This was followed by a smaller triaxial blend using rhododendron ash. There was a specific section of the blend that consistently had the surface qualities I was after, and so I focused on this section for my current round of testing.
The first firing I did in my new kiln, after an empty “ghost” firing to dry it out and to oxidise the elements, was full of over 50 small glaze tests bowls - 14 different glazes on four different clay bodies. With new glazes you never know how much they’re going to shift and melt in the firing – it depends on the relative proportions of ingredients in the glaze, the interaction of the glaze with the clay, how thickly the glaze is applied, and the heat-work that happens in the kiln. New kiln, new firing schedule, new glazes, new clays. It was a nerve-wracking first firing.
On the morning the kiln was cool and ready to open, I woke up to snow blanketing the trees in a thick, fluffy layer. Sun not quite risen, I shuffled out to the garage in my pajamas and down jacket, snow still falling, coating my glasses and creating a fresh crunch underfoot.
I’ve only welled up three times after seeing pots come out of the kiln. The first time was when I saw one of my small bowls come out of John’s wood-fired kiln last year. Raw clay and heavy markings of soda and flame. Opening my own kiln on this snowy morning and seeing all of these glaze tests was the second time. Beautiful colors and textures that looked like they came straight out of the ground. Colors I never thought I’d be able to achieve with ash glazes in an oxidised kiln atmosphere. Most of the reading I’ve done around ash glazes has focused on ash glazes in a reduction atmosphere – something only possible in a fuel-fired kiln (wood, gas). Yet here was the color palette I’ve always wanted, hues of washed-out film photos taken in wild places.
I mulled these tests over for days before deciding on five finishes I wanted to take forward. Each of these finishes have unique surface qualities that I wanted to highlight by pairing them with forms that suited them best.
Iterations of throwing and refining new shapes, testing them with my new glazes. Back and forth from the pottery wheel to the kiln. Finding the right matches. Refining the hydration of each glaze and the number of seconds in the glaze bucket. Back and forth, back and forth. Days, weeks, months. Seeing the glazes from my testing on full-sized pots after I homed in on all of these factors was the third time I’ve welled up in response to pots.
From all of this testing, I’ve developed my Birch collection, made up of five complementary finishes: Winter Birch, Ling, Lichen, Catkin, and Sphagnum. A collection reflecting the different seasons of birch and other flora that are often found on their branches and intermingled with their roots. A collection that I’ll be happy to come back to again and again.
