Vancouver, B.C. ¥6H 3R7
(604) GEI-9629

Potters Guild of British Columbia

1359 Cartwright St., Granville Island

NEWSLETTER

OCTOBER 1988

ISSN 6319 812X

THE DRAGON KILN
Singapore — Part Two

One of the characteristics of Singaporeans is
punctuality. Their idea of being late is showing up
half an hour early. It was with this thought in
mind that we rushed ta our 10:30 meeting place on
the street. My sense of anticipation was somewhat
restrained by the fact that a tropical downpour
unleashed itself onto our casually dressed bodies.
Within a few minutes a wall of warm rain was
falling. It was something that had to be seen to be
believed.

Betty and her driver arrived at eleven o'clock. They
had to resort to quite a circultous route out of their
neighbourhood because the surrounding streets
had become impassable, Within twenty minutes
enough rain had fallen to flood many intersections
to two or three feet. Everyone seemed to take it all
in stride. We then headed off to the kiln.

Arriving at the pottery, I was overwhelmed by the
number of fired pots sitting in the yard. There was
barely enough room to manoeuvre the car in the
driveway. Large water jars and planters were
stacked up to ten feet, We were accompanied by
Bill Stewart, an Australian potter from Perth. I met
Bill during one of my demos and the common bond
that potters seem to have, developed into an invila-
tion te come with us.

It was amazing to see the jungle starting where the
property ended. A dense wall of vegetation sur-
rounded the pottery. [ had noticed some beautiful
water jars in the undergrowth and headed for them,
I was immediately stopped by Soon Kim, the eldest
son, because when it rains quite a few snakes come
out of the undergrowth. He pointed to one of the
nastier ones that had met an early demise. We
decided to heed his warning.

We were shown around the pottery which was
basically a large open shed. Two or three men were
finishing some coiled and paddled jars and there
were mounds of clay and drying pots everywhere.
The clay is dumped into a slaking pond and then
filter pressed before being put through a pug mill.

u 1 ou eae : eo a
The coil builder and his assistant then foot wedge
about a ton of clay before construction. Watching
the paddling process we were impressed by the
speed of the potter as he walked backwards around
the pot. We also watched the youngest son throw-
ing a jar which took about forty-five seconds to
produce.

Soon Kim led us toward the kiln which was being
fired by his father. Split firewood was stacked on
top of the kiln above the stoke holes. (Cont'd p. 4)

c

OCTOBER GUILD MEETING

Thursday, October 27th, 7:30 p.m.
False Creek Community Centre
Granville Island

Den Morrill will show a video of
wood/fired kilns in Japan.
Note change of day: a temporary siluation.
Lee will be open at 7 p.m. at the Guild otis. }