So to sum this story up, the rest of the class came over, we mixed up a clay/mortar second coat and laid it on. We fired it a couple of time, with mixed results, before Steve and David moved on. Kenny Shipley came back for his MFA the next fall ,and he and I were the ones who really got it going. before we were through we were getting some nice pots out of it. It sat and was revived a couple of times, a lot of people got there first taste of firing with it, and I guess Mark Peters and Shane Mickey were among the last to give it a go. UT decided to shut it all down, pushed it all down, house and all, and made a green space out of it.

I do not intend to publish a running history of every breakfast or cold beer I have had for the past thirty years, but I do get two things out of the experience.

First, it was a gutsy move at the time to jump on a project like it was. There wasn't no internet, no blogs, no advice, few books even if we had them, and outside of the Arrowmont kiln I do not know where the next wood kiln would have been. Wood firing wasn't "the thing" like it is now, but we were young and full of piss and wanted one, so we built it.

Secondly, isn't it funny how little simple decisions shape your life. Taking some art classes, meeting Paul, meeting Ted, failing in with a good group of clay people, the right place, the materials at hand, and boom I have spent twenty-eight years dropping cones with wooden sticks. As with any person's journey, what a long, strange trip it has been.

Next Time: "Yeah, Well, Now What?"