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80 Closing the entrance. (Photos from the film, The Meaders Family: North Georgia Potters.) Figure 34a. Bricking the entry, leaving draft holes at bottom. Figure 34b. Daubing the entry with mud.
from an earlier dollar-a-cord. As the burning proceeded apace, Lanier increased his activity, cutting and splitting the timber into eight-foot lengths: "When it first starts to burn, I start chopping the wood up. It don't take much more than a good truckload [a cord-and-a-half] for a burn." Lanier tended not to feed die fire according to any schedule ("just whenever you can put to it"), although his father's intervals were estimated at every halfhour through noon, 15-20 minute intervals from noon until 5:00 T-.M., and almost continuously until around 7:00 P.M. The fire at its peak glowed white hot, imparting a transparent appearance to the ware in the kiln. As the flames swept through the structure from the firebox to the chimney, they became visible outside, where they began to "feather, to springle out, more or less like a branch on a tree, and it's more or less free-floating" (fig. 35). At this point, anywhere from fifteen to eighteen hours into the burning, the kiln would have reached a maximum temperature of 2000 — 2200°F. 10 Checking to see that most of the smoke and soot had been burned away inside the structure, father and son worked to maintain this heat for at least another hour. According to Lanier, "[The fuel] will burn just as fast as you can put it in; it's just a continuous job. If you can stand to stoke the thing for two hours without turning around, it's much better. But can't nobody do that. It's so hot against it that you have to put a litde bit in it and move back and cool off." Ware losses were sometimes sustained in the old days when, through faulty judgment, a burning was terminated too soon. Some White County potters, like Guy Dorsey's father, would remove a brick at the chimney end where they guessed the coolest spot in the kiln would be located. Dropping wooden splints through die opening, diey could see their ware, "and when those sticks hit down at the bottom of those churns in the upper end of the kiln, that blaze would flare up and shine against [them], and if it shined glassy [the glaze] was done melted down to die bottom [of the ware]. If it wasn't, you'd plug the hole and give it more time." Other potters would hook out trial pieces at this point to see whether or not their glazes had melted sufficiendy. Late in life, Cheever Meaders developed his own version of the pyrometric cone for accurately measuring the peak heat in his kiln. Taking a handful of sediment from his glaze tub (the same glaze that was applied to the ware in the kiln), he would place it in a rag, 81
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CheeverMeaders, circa 1933. (Photo
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The publication of this monograph w
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Editor's Preface In 1978, the Smith
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when the pace of work and passage o
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Introduction This handmade pott'ry
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We made a commitment to document th
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E. Richard Sorenson seven months af
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pace. Thus, we arrived just as a ki
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them by pottery entrepreneurs. The
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ville to the lumber mill at Helen,
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well known to scholars, kindly prov
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The Meaders Family I remember very
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oad tunnel" kiln and a mule-drawn "
Page 27 and 28: Hall County, and several of the Whi
Page 29 and 30: crocks, cover them with a sheet, hi
Page 31 and 32: and the Meaderses. Around 1920, an
Page 33 and 34: to Arie and Cheever Meaders in litt
Page 35 and 36: Figure 6. Cheever Meaders and his c
Page 37 and 38: Joiirnal and Constitution mum i in
Page 39 and 40: Adanta and Asheville. Cheever's wor
Page 41 and 42: esiding in his parents' small cotta
Page 43 and 44: Work Processes Our approach to pott
Page 45 and 46: SHELVES o L WHEEL STORAGE TABLE WEb
Page 47 and 48: Figure 12. The pottery yard, 1967-6
Page 49 and 50: textured yellow clays in the other
Page 51 and 52: Figure 15. Lanier's electric mud mi
Page 53 and 54: ^///M/M$zzzn ty/W'""/"PZa Figure 16
Page 55 and 56: Figure 17. Crib assembly, showing b
Page 57 and 58: vessels turned to the same height a
Page 59 and 60: Contouring tools. (Photos by Ralph
Page 61 and 62: Figures 21, 22, 23. Turning a six-g
Page 63 and 64: Figure 23a. Rejoining top and botto
Page 65 and 66: Metal pottery lifters. Figure 25a.
Page 67 and 68: would roll out short pieces of soft
Page 69 and 70: Like the Meaderses' treadle wheels,
Page 71 and 72: Figure 29. The bottom side of the u
Page 73 and 74: to handle the glazed ware very care
Page 75 and 76: the next (fig. 33). In general, the
Page 77: All of the traditional ware was pla
Page 81 and 82: squeeze the excess moisture out, an
Page 83 and 84: had been turned too thin for the cl
Page 85 and 86: while a prefired and hammered clay
Page 87 and 88: thin with a slight twist to one sid
Page 89 and 90: children would file out to the work
Page 91 and 92: with the previous night's whole mil
Page 93 and 94: Figure 39b. Bottom of the pitcher,
Page 95 and 96: Figure 40. A four-gallon churn comm
Page 97 and 98: 98 water and washed; then they were
Page 99 and 100: Figure 41. Three storage vessels: a
Page 101 and 102: 100 many as 300-400 stoneware fruit
Page 103 and 104: 102 large share of the potters' bus
Page 105 and 106: 104 form in White County is general
Page 107 and 108: 106 and the introduction of new lab
Page 109 and 110: 108 For her part, Arie Meaders has
Page 111 and 112: Glazes A characteristic, though unu
Page 113 and 114: 112 Ash Glaze At one time, ash glaz
Page 115 and 116: 114 with this glaze, purchasing pre
Page 117 and 118: 116 melt at a relatively low heat
Page 119 and 120: 118 burns to a light or dark green
Page 121 and 122: 120 Figure 44b. Lanier's kiln, 1979
Page 123 and 124: 122 Lanier's kiln, 1968. (Illustrat
Page 125 and 126: 124 REBUILDING A KILN Pointing to h
Page 127 and 128: 126 With the supports in place, the
Page 129 and 130:
128 are kinds of people out there I
Page 131 and 132:
130 Cheever Meaders (1887-1967), th
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132 1979 Cleveland, January 13 Robe
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134 DIGGING THE CLAY View of clay p
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136 Cheever throws, centers, raises
Page 139 and 140:
138 Lanier removes churn from wheel
Page 141 and 142:
140 Lanier pounds glass bits in oil
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142 He bricks up front and builds u
Page 145 and 146:
Glossary Albany Slip: A riverine cl
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146 is tied around die charm to sec
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148 simply an accumulation of broke
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150 To "shut down" die kiln: To cea
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Bibliography: Published Sources on
Page 155 and 156:
Notes Preface NOTES 1. Byington, Ro
Page 157 and 158:
156 2. John Ramsay, American Potter
Page 159 and 160:
158 Chapter III: The Ware NOTES 1.
Page 161:
160 8. This technique is mentioned
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