June Firing

I'm posting some pics of a few of the pots from the most recent firing in June. The glazes turned out really nice! Very typical Old Edgefield or oriental-type glazes with lots of drips and runs from ash. The color of the glaze is a little darker than in the past. This is because I added a few cups of red, red earthenware from Martintown Rd. in North Augusta to my glaze batch. I wanted more runs and I got them! These are just a sample but typical of what we unloaded.

The kiln was fired on June 16-17. Though there was no rain forecast, it rained on and off throughout one night. We managed to stall the kiln at 15 hours, but eventually recovered and continued our climb up in temp. New apprentice Brian received his baptism by fire and sweat! I owe you! Sarah helped finish the firing when my legs and back started spasms at around 34 hours. She took the 9,10,11 cones down. Thanks, Sarah! Total firing time was 36 hours. Whew! I should say 36 HOT, HUMID hours. I'll post pics in a few days after the kiln cools and is unloaded.

Brian stands back while flames start burning out top of chimney.

Brian's legs are just visible in the firebox as he starts to unload a real hot kiln several days later.

This pot says " A good pot for stew-beef, chicken and rabbit, too

A nice jar 2 gallon jar

I'll post more photos later. All of the pieces are not yet out of the kiln.

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!

A Bit of Pottery History

While the winter weather hasn't been very good for firing the groundhog kiln, I thought I'd add a brief post about the history of Edgefield pottery. I hope these weather systems with all of the rain and low pressure will let up soon! The drying racks are full of some nice pottery needing only fire to bring them to life. Keep your fingers crossed!

A beautiful pitcher with runs and a Bodie Pottery jug, early 1800's on right

As I've mentioned in previous posts, the pottery tradition that started here in the Old Edgefield District of South Carolina in the early 1800's was possibly the most important in the United States to date. Although this method of pottery making was originally pioneered by the Chinese a couple of thousand years ago, it did not make much of an appearance in Europe or elsewhere until a local physician started experimenting with it in the early Nineteenth Century.


A maker's mark from Hahn Pottery, approximately 1850. Most Edgefield ware was not marked or was marked by strange symbols such as dots, slashes or X's.



While early America slowly shifted away from the toxic lead-glazed earthenwares that were poisoning many there were few alternatives to replace it easily. The northern states had ample amounts of salt and good stoneware clays. The immigrants to these states brought the salt-glazing technique with them from many parts of Europe and produced vast quantities of utilitarian pottery. The southern states lacked the access to salt. Salt was a valuable commodity in the south and was much needed for preserving meats and vegetables, especially for the large plantations and the many slaves that had to be fed.

A large storage jar attributed to Thomas Chandler, about 1840

The local physician who ultimately founded this tradition was Abner Landrum. He was also a publisher of a small newspaper and a slave owner. He found that useable stoneware clays were found in this area around the fall line. He also discovered that the ash residue from the pottery kiln could be mixed with silica or sand and a bit of clay and water forming a slip to coat the raw pots with which would form a satisfactory glaze when fired to stoneware temeratures of around 2,300 degrees F. The aim was simply to form a sanitary surface on the pots which was easily cleaned. Aesthetics and glaze color was of no importance.

A kaolin slip-decorated jug from Colin Rhodes Pottery

Within a few years, others in the area emulated Landrum's success and started potteries of their own, often as a supplement to farming. The rounded, ovoid or bulbous oriental forms were produced in vast quantities at the 20 or so potteries in this area and sent by wagon and later by rail throughout the south. This pottery-making tradition also spread throughout the southern tier of states and as far west as Texas. Since these potteries were dependant on slave labor, they tended to decline after the Civil War and with the advent of glass and metal storage containers. The last of the old traditional potteries died out in the early Twentieth Century. Without this unique pottery, the settlers of the south would have found it very difficult, if not impossible, to preserve and store foodstuffs. We now appreciate the runny, drippy beauty of these ash or alkaline-glazed pots! More and more collectors are bidding on fewer pots, driving prices on these old beauties through the roof!

Slave-made face jugs

We at Old Canal Pottery are proud to revive this Southern tradition and artform using methods and materials that were used here almost 200 years ago. Our groundhog kiln produces the beautiful forms and glazes so sought after by collectors. We hope you will consider adding our wares to your collection. They will grow in value as years pass and represent a continuation of this most unique pottery tradition.



An inscribed South Carolina Dispensary jug made at the Hahn/Baynham pottery in present day North Augusta, SC. The governor of SC placed an order for many hundreds of these for the state run liquor dispensaries. Circa 1890