Clay Prospecting

Recently, one of the last potteries from the Old Edgefield District has found itself in the way of progress. Baynham's pottery was relocated in the late 1800's to this location from Trenton, SC. They managed to keep production of utilitarian pottery into the 1930's. This site was the location for brickmaking, as well as garden-type earthenware production. The site is presently being cleared for a storm water retention pond.

The many sherds left scattered about the site show that Albany slip was the preferred glaze treatment. Jug handles were joined at and onto the necks. There was a small number of sherds that appeared to have a Bristol or whitish-gray glaze. The pottery site has the remains of at least 2 groundhog kilns visible and several waster piles.

Many of the remaining foundations of structures on the site were made from brick with the markings "PEERLESS/AUGUSTA. The large number of unmortared single bricks scattered about the site may indicate these were made here.

The pottery sat on top of a vein of blue-colored clay. This clay was layed down when an ancient sea covered this area and is a kaolinite high in alumina, which is great for stoneware pottery. While this clay by itself is somewhat short or non-plastic, it performs beautifully when blended with the buff stoneware clay veins that alternate with the blue clay at the site.


We have managed to procure a sizeable quantity of the clays from the site. Though Baynham's pottery site will cease to be, collectors of their pottery can take heart as Old Canal Pottery continues the tradition of southern alkaline-glazed, wood-fired stoneware pottery using clays from the old site. The clays fire to a light gray color.

Blue clay contrasted with red earthenware clay

A sample of the blue clay

Our kiln is filled and the wood is cut and stacked. We will be firing our latest work soon!

The Weather Warms

I apologize for the length of time since my last post. I managed to get a firing inbetween some of the spring fronts that race through this time of year. I once lost the better part of 2 month's work when a storm came out of nowhere with high winds blowing down the chimney into the kiln. The pots were at about 2,000 degrees F and I heard much pinging and cracking as cold air met hot pots! I look forward to those long drawn out high pressure cells that linger over the southern USA and provide long periods of stable weather because that's the time for a wood-fired groundhog kiln.



This is a photo of some of the small-medium face jugs after dipping them in glaze and before they were fired. They turned out real sweet and sold real fast. My camera has not yet been repaired so I'm behind on photos and real lost without it.




I usually put 3-4 of these cone plaques around the inside of the kiln when I fire. They provide a record of the temperatures in various parts of the kiln. I do good to see one set when I fire due to the intensity of light, but I can see one set close to the front door. This helps guide me in determining when to halt firing. The cones are numbered, the higher the number the higher the temp it melts at. Here I wanted to get to 2,300 F (the middle cone 10) but waited until the 11 cone bent before stopping to insure the temp in the back had time to get high enough. Additionally, I go by color and I also hope to see what looks like shimmering drops of water on the outside of pots. This is the melted glaze and means I can stumble around like a real tired zombie and start closing the kiln up! Ya-hoo! Bed, sleep!