The great cleanup

The next morning I woke up to a beautiful sunrise, which somewhat eased my apprehension. Nevertheless, I was unsure about my situation. I realized how much work was ahead of me. Originally I imagined that I would come here to make pots, instead I realized that I needed to spend an enormous amount of time cleaning up and organizing the place. There was so much crap and old stuff from the previous potters that I did not even know where to start. I decided to go for small victories. Just start with small projects that I could finish within a few hours. I told myself that I needed to be careful not to get too anxious about the mess. I reminded me that I needed to enjoy (if possible) the process of cleaning this up, no matter how difficult it would be. I slowly began to see, like Okudasan before me the potential of the property. I realized the uniqueness of the situation and that I should be grateful to have this opportunity. I decided to work from early morning to later in the afternoon, take a shower in the newly installed bathroom and visit Okudasan for tea and some conversation.

During the first 4 weeks I mostly had rainy days. I normally got up at 4:30 AM and prepared something to eat and then worked on small projects. There were many buckets and bags with dried up clay lying around and while I did not know what kind it was I also thought it would be wasteful to throw it away. So I spent some time hammering down some of the dried clay, soaked it in water in order to recycle it in a few days later. I was lucky my friend Tayamasan offered to test fire some of the different clays to see which one would be usable for wood fire.

I turned my attention to the storage building where weeds grew between the shelving structures. There were so many ware boards that needed to be stacked away, kiln posts of all different kind and length as well as kiln shelves were laying around. I needed to lift these heavy shelves (each 30 lbs at least) and find a space where I could stack them for future use. Next I cleaned up the surrounding of the anagama. The kiln outside and inside suggested that a professional kiln maker constructed the anagama. The masonry work looked beautiful and it appeared almost new. I could see why Okudasan thought that this is a unique opportunity for Emil to have his own wood fire kiln. The kiln needed a cleanup inside and outside, but was in structurally in good shape.

Leftover roof metal sheets were blocking the way to the kiln, rotten wooden posts and other stuff needed to be disposed in order to even get close to the kiln. I had to fix the roof of the kiln because the cement cover was badly broken. I spent the next few days to fix the kiln roof and then it dawned on me that I should cover the kiln roof to make it look esthetically like an authentic Japanese anagama. Okudasan suggested that I use some of the sandy material that was left behind. I thieved it to get the small rocks out and mixed it with powdered clay that was there and I added water. Then I used this slurry and covered the kiln roof. I applied 2 coats of it, carefully filling all the remaining cracks. I smoothed the coats with a trowel and after a few days work, the kiln looked like a beautiful anagama. I really was happy with my work and Okudasan upon his next visit was visibly pleased with my work as well.

Next, I turned my attention to the inside of the kiln. A wild animal, probably a wild boar must have made the kiln his/her home for a while. It smelled of wilderness. Yes, there are many wild boars around my place and I can see their tracks. The kiln inside looked very messy. There were kiln shelves all over. Some were broken. I was told that each shelve would cost at least $70. There were kiln posts of all sorts lying around and it was really dirty. However, the masonry looked as if the kiln has been fired only a few times. Like the outside, the masonry was professionally done and looked very new. This was not a kiln that had seen many firings and I was content with the fact that I was the owner of such a beautiful kiln. The bricks near the firebox showed a crust of material and it looked as if someone had salt fired the kiln. Salt attacks bricks and needs to be cleaned in order to preserved the masonry. I donned on my respirator, put a towel around my head and started to scrape down the bricks. I removed all the shelves the posts and bricks and cleaned out the dirt. After a couple of days work, the anagama looked beautiful inside and outside. I looked at the anagama and it dawned on me how big the kiln was which meant that I really must make many pieces in order to fire the kiln. I cannot wait to fire it!