My move to the Yukon over 38 years ago brought with it my love of working with clay. Slowly discovering the abundance of diverse naturally occurring Yukon deposits, commonly used as pottery glaze materials, brought me to “Yukon Pottery”. With my strong interest in producing functional pots, my curiosity and ability to see what melts under excessive heat, the meld of my interests and the discovery of natural deposits was exciting, and continues to be my prime glaze focus.
All glazes are produced with a concentrated effort to include the highest content of a blend of naturally occurring deposits, a process that is always ongoing. The many different Yukon clay banks produce a low fire dark clay body not conducive to the durable high fire clay body associated with functional stoneware. These banks are more accurately referred to as glacial silt banks.
A variety of rich dark brown glazes are obtained when mixed with water, applied and high fired in oxidation. Golds, caramels and lighter shades of brown are produced by adding with other ingredients such as volcanic ash, calcium, copper, all found in the Territory. I use a commercial stoneware clay body for throwing which is fired to a Cone 9 (2300 ºF) in an oxidation atmosphere.
Oven proof utilitarian ware produced by a potter should be handled as you would any quality stoneware by placing in a cold oven and allow for your oven to heat normally. Placing pottery dishes on stove burners or open heat will cause thermal shock leading to breakages.
Phyl Fiendell - Nov '09
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