Hon. President:- Joe Finch

Hon. Member:- Henry Sandon

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                                              International Pit Firing Event August 2009.                       By Helen Willis

1  The pit half packed with pots.

2  The combustibles ready to put in and steps down to          

    the pit at the other end.

3  Andrew and June stoking the fire.

4  The fire burning well under the corrugated sheets.

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5 The opening of the pit after three days.

6  Most of the pots are out of the pit.

7  Wonderful colours and patterns.

The pit firing day was well attended by over thirty people which included two visitors from the Scottish Potters Association, namely Fran Marquis-Faulkes (Chairman of SPA) and Bob Walker. Apart from the firing, the main attraction was the demonstrations by Lorraine Gilroy’s visiting Japanese potters, Kaori and Yasutugu Yamane. These took place in a small marquee that June Ridgway had acquired and we extended it with the MPA gazebos. With everyone bringing their own chair and food to share, seating and eating problems were solved.

Yasutugu demonstrated the making of his tea kettles from very thin slabs of clay and Kaori showed us how to make the vine handles (see newsletter 177, April/May 2008), demonstrated some wonderful Ikebana flower arrangements and conducted a tea ceremony. Hiromi Nakajima acted as an interpreter when needed - a big thank you to her for that.

Lorraine had inspired many people into action for this day and sought advice from a very experienced pit firer, Liz Michl, our Vice-chairman. Ken Palmer, whose garden was the venue of the whole event, persuaded a man with a mechanical digger to dig a big hole, approximately 8’x 4’and 4’ deep. Apparently it is usually better to have the hole rather narrower. June Ridgway carried out a good deal of research on the topic and organised the filling of the pit as the pots were delivered. Many were prepared in some way, either wrapped in newspaper, dried salted cloth or clay, enclosing copper carbonate, dried seaweed, dried banana skins, horsehair, copper wire and shells with the pots. Some were burnished and some were covered in coloured slip. All had been biscuit fired.

The sides of the pit were lined with upright planks of wood to the height of the pit walls to prevent the soil from collapsing. The bottom of the pit was covered with a good six inches of sawdust into which the pots were carefully placed at different angles. Broken pieces of pot were added between the pots (actually they were pieces that June intended to rejoin after the firing) together with copper carbonate, sea shells, dried seaweed and salt. Over the single layer of pots small pieces of hardwood, some from old oak beer casks, were placed with lots of fir cones found in Ken’s garden. The pieces of wood that filled the pit to the brim had been cut into manageable sizes from clean wood found in skips or thrown away from places like the woodwork department of Dudley College. (Good recycling and carbon neutral apparently). The sorting and cutting of the wood took a considerable amount of time during the firing and everyone seemed to take a turn at it. Removing nails and screws, of which there were many, was a soul destroying task and many thanks goes to those people who dedicated themselves to the job.

The lighting of the pit firing, in three places, was ceremoniously carried out by our Japanese visitors using shredded paper, folded paper firelighters and twigs. The pit was covered with corrugated iron sheets provided by Ken and with the wind in the right direction the flames took off.

To keep the flames burning across the pit for six hours the fire needed to be fed continually by lifting each corrugated sheet in turn and putting some fresh wood into the pit. Liz Michl had arrived by this time and took her seat nearby to offer timely advice during the firing. June and Andrew Matheson, our Chairman, took on the arduous and hot task of feeding the fire. We had numerous exciting moments when the flames darted out from under the covers to attack the surrounding turf and even threatened Ken’s raspberries at one point. We controlled the situation with very careful handling of a water hose. After three hours at the furnace, Andrew and June were quite flushed, although well protected with leather aprons, gauntlets and masks, and needed a break. The leather apron was handed to me and along with Heather Donnai and a few others the stoking continued. The corrugated sheets were hot and a little twisted by now, and so needed careful handling while the fresh wood was added. We were advised to slide the larger pieces of wood in carefully so as not to break the pots below.

Unbelievably, we managed to burn nearly all the wood that had been collected over the previous months - and there was a lot. It had been well covered to keep it dry during all that rain we have had this summer.

By 6.30 pm. it was decided to stop stoking the fire and leave it covered with the corrugated sheets to allow it to burn down. Fortunately, not only was the weather dry and sunny on the firing day but also on the three days that followed. When we opened the pit on the third day there was nothing left except the pots and a little ash. No pots were broken and all were beautifully coloured and marked. An excellent result and a credit to the hard work that had gone into the preparation of a wonderful day.

The Japanese potters were lovely enthusiastic people who joined in with our group and shared their expertise so generously. Long may our interaction continue and thank you to Lorraine for introducing them to us and planning this event so well. I took Fran Marquis’s  pots from the firing up to Arbroath when Tony and I went up to Scotland on holiday and we had a lovely lunch with Fran and Bob. Maybe this is also the start of sharing some events with the SPA.