In the End… Fire Determines

Using dried sheep dung broken into chips approximately five or six inches square, Helen Naha, “Feather Woman,” shows the steps she uses in firing her pots. Starting in the lower left corner and going clockwise, she first builds a bed of coals that pre-heat the area under her pottery and provide a base for the rest of her work. After a generous amount of coals have been prepared, she spreads them out with a stick so as to leave no spot uncovered. A new layer of chips are spread over the coals, an asbestos platform on top of that, and old broken pottery shards on top of that. Now the new bowl, which has been formed, polished, slipped and decorated, is in place. Again old shards are used as Helen completely covers the vessel to protect it from ashes and flames. Should the flames, due to a strong gust of wind, find their way through the shards and actually lick at the sides of the new bowl it would produce a smudged area called a fire cloud. Fire clouds are not altogether undesirable features on a pot. On plainware they can be quite attractive, softly blending free form grey areas with the natural color of the clay. On polychrome vessels, particularly those with the decoration on the exterior, fire clouds may obscure the design. Here again, however, it depends largely on the intensity of the clouds and the personal preference of the individual. Working very quickly, Helen constructs a complete bee hive of sheep dung around and over the top of her pottery and as the last pieces go in place, the heat is already so intense as to singe her eyebrows. The rest is now up to mother nature . . . and all Helen has to have is patience. In the soaring temperatures of the burning bee hive, the molecule structure of the clays will change and be bonded together in a hard, durable form. It may take four or five hours for the flames to subside and the coals to return to atmospheric temperature. Not until then will she disturb the ashes, for a hot vessel too soon exposed to the cold air will crack and be of no use.