My Process
Materials
All clay and glaze materials are harvested in Manitoba with my trusty old shovel. My materials never come from a bag or box and thus contain no industrial byproducts from faraway mines or smelters.
The places my materials come from have a history and a felt presence in the final products. The geology and biomes of Manitoba are reflected in my pottery.
I harvest fireclay from the foothills of Riding Mountain National Park that were passed over by glaciers.
Silica sand left by an ancient delta near Brandon is used to temper the clay.
Harvest
Fine ground glacial till from the Teulon area is used to form glaze bases. Ashes of bulrush, oak, apple and poplar from my wood stove create the shine and different colours of the glazes.
These materials must be harvested, slaked, screened, dried, tested, blended, tested again, and aged to prepare them for use. The clay is thrown on a hand-built kick wheel powered only by my feet. I then wait for the right moment, after days of controlled drying, to glaze the pottery. Once glazed, the pottery is ready for the wood-fired kiln.
Kiln
My kiln is built with firebrick reclaimed from the boilers and furnaces of old factories around Winnipeg.
After being carefully designed and constructed, the kiln was sealed with an earthen plaster.
Firing
The kiln is fired for twenty four hours with trembling aspen thinned from my 44 acre woodlot.
During the firing process, the kiln’s internal temperature climbs to thirteen hundred degrees Celsius.
The clay then converts to stoneware and the glaze to glass. After the kiln cools for three days, I am finally able to open it and see the results of the entire process.