Strange Things with Salt

Salt firing workshop with Chester Nealie at Alt Gaarz

This workshop is organised by the Geman potters association "kalkspatz e.V." - the same organisation, that organised the first European Woodfire Conference at Bröllin. Now Danish woodfirers have taken over the challenge of organising the second conference at Skælskœr and incorporated this workshop within their official pre-conference programme. 

Chester began potting in 1964 after instruction in New Zealand from Shoji Hamada, Takeichi Kawai and Michael Cardew. He has lectured, built kilns and conducted many firings in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, USA, Korea and Norway. Although the pots have a basic classical form, their individuality is present in the freedom and joy in hand-making combined with the magical spontaneity of flame. He lives now  at Goanna Ridge near Gulgong, NSW, Australia.

He will do strange things with salt at Alt Gaarz within the beautiful landscape of the Mecklenburg lake district and he will use Markus Böhm's famous and very successful, smokeless Bourry Box kiln, which was built and designed together with Steve Harrison. So the technique of salt firing returns to Germany from the opposite side of the world with all the changes that took place. Chester will place wood directly on the pots, load the kiln with bundle stacks, throw the salt onto the pots instead bringing it into the fire box, use charcoal for the firing instead for the grill and do other strange things - all this to achieve those special woodfire salt glaze effects that are creating these wonderful lively surfaces. During the cooling cycle of the kiln he will demonstrate, i.e. his coil and throw techniques on the wheel.

This is a workshop for all of you, who are bored about throwing salt into the fire box - and for those, who would like to enjoy the late summer laid back atmosphere between two lakes together with friends and good talks.

Please bring some bisqued pots with you. They should stand at cone 11 to 13. Maybe cone 14. And please not again only tea bowls - we need pots for bundle-stacking!

There are more pictures at http://www.sidestoke.com/Nealie/index.html