trajectory: from the begining.
we are canadian clay artists exploring fire and soda in niagara, on. we specialize primarily in creating functional table ware and statement pieces for your home.
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i first discovered clay as a child through the teachings of my grandmother. in my twenties she and i spent a great deal of time together exploring our shared passion for clay.
i began as an electric fired potter.
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after spending several years working with clay in a community center i gained the confidence to establish my own working studio from home. through a few lucky twists of fate and in pursuit of a wild dream i opened my home gallery in 2014.
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we are "shed." there is no "the."
i chose the name shed to pay homage to my grandmother's little blue shed where it all began for me.
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my business exploded. i was found by the right people, one connection lead to another and i was able to put myself on the map by working with some of niagara's finest chefs and restaurants to make wares for their establishments.
my gallery gained momentum.
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unable to manage on my own. in 2017 my husband left his corporate job to become my full-time business partner and apprentice.
he is our studio technician, plate maker and hand-builder.
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in 2015 i participated in my first wood fire workshop and fell immediately in love. fire was in my soul. in 2018 i worked alongside a mason and together we built my manabigama kiln.
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i named my wood kiln after the american folk singer woordrow guthrie. often wood fire potters name their kiln to give it spirit.
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we began exploring soda in 2020. soda is a vapour glaze method. in the history of ceramics the use of soda is relatively new and unchartered. it was first established in the early 70s as an alternative to salt glazing.
wood soda fire potters are not common in canada. there is a small directory of us, other methods such as electric and gas fire are more predominate.
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present day we fire with wood and soda. our gallery is open seasonally from late winter to early december. our hands are never idle, production cycles are long and require several weeks of work before we are ready to fire. great focus is placed on selling directly through our brick and mortar but in an effort to keep up with demand, slowly we are offering random online availability.
from fire to vessel
our work is fired first in an electric kiln and then we load our work into a wood burning kiln.
each firing yields different success rates and different results. the wood soda fire process is a finely tuned balance between art and science. there are no kiln gods bearing protection or influence over our work. research into the dynamics of clay bodies, slips, firing techniques and their relationship with one another is how we achieve our results and hone our methods. we fail and we succeed; we fail and succeed. we follow in the foot steps of many before us, we learn from our peers and one day we hope to be able to contribute new knowledge and methods to our clay community.
make + fire
production time: 5-6 weeks
load-in: full day
firing duration: average 24+ hours
fuel: wood
amount of wares: average 240
cool down: average 4 days
post firing: average 7 days to sand, test and photograph