om and I finished making our 1,000 bowls for the Bouja by Sept 1 as was our goal.  In early Sept, we then hauled all of them north of town with the help of my Mom and Dad and sibs to the pottery of a dear friend of Dom and I’s named JD Jorgenson.  Check out his work and course offerings at his website: www.jorgensonpottery.com

The dry, brittle pots were then carefully stacked into the last two chambers of JD’s wood-fired kiln on shelves made of clay. When they were all loaded we then ‘bricked up’ the door leaving a stoke hole to put wood through for the firing.  My sister and brother helped pinch hit between Dom and I’s firing shifts for a 30 some hour firing to heat the pots slowly to 1800 degrees.  This initial firing is called a bisque firing, and it is too harden the pots before glazing them.  They come out quite porous and after being dipped in glazes, will be fired hotter still to melt the glaze and heat up the pot itself until the clay it was made from is durable, hard, and non-porous.  After cooling off for 2 days, the kiln was ready to unload and the bisqued pots were hauled to the Paramount Visual Art Center’s Gas Kiln. Check out the Paramount Visual Art Center’s offerings and happenings by clicking here.