,My great friend Kristin and I drove to Shelburne Falls to see Molly Cantor Pottery. Luckily, Molly was in and spent a long time telling us about her life, art, background and pottery method. All of her pieces are made according to a process she formed, which is explained below. The white pieces with blue decorations are fired in a modern electric kiln. The tan, brown and black pieces are wood fired with salt. It takes stoking the fire with wood all day to reach the 2,360 degrees F needed to acheive the soft earthy hues of this pottery. The ashes from the wood and the salt float about in the kiln, giving the pieces their distinct markings. Although firing with wood is very work intensive, Molly loves the beautiful effects it creates.
"My face got so hot it was sun burned!" *quote from a worker in Molly's gallery |
Electric Fired PiecesAll of Molly's pottery is made on a wheel or built from thin hand rolled slabs of clay.
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Steps 1 and 2When a form is complete, she paints a thin layer of colored clay over the porcelain.
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Steps 3, 4 and 5Next Molly carves through the layers achieving an original block print like design. She then fires, glazes and fires them again.
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