13.04 / 21.04 | Jan en Ann, Verdraaid! | €1160

Level: intermediate to advanced.
Language of the course: English, Dutch, French.
Type of Kiln: salt kiln
Dates: April 13, from 6:00 p.m., to April 21, 10:30 a.m., 2027

Starts in the evening of April 13 until the morning of April 21, 2027.
The Ceramic Course is priced at €1160. To secure your spot, a €200 advance payment is required upon registration.

Wild Clay in a Wood-Fired Salt Kiln

For Ann and Jan, ceramics has been an important part of their lives since 2012. What started as simply playing around together on the wheel slowly grew into two different ways of working. Ann mainly builds with slabs and coils, often combining these with a thrown element. Jan continued working on the wheel and developed a strong interest in firing. He works with gas kilns and has a special love for traditional glazes such as oxblood, celadon, tenmoku and kaki. He is especially fascinated by the way iron and fire can change a glaze.

This workshop starts outside the studio, with a visit to a quarry about ten kilometres from La Céramique. Hidden between layers of gravel and sand are thin layers of natural clay, with different amounts of iron in them. We will collect this wild clay and bring it back to the studio, where we will wash and sieve it before preparing it for use.

Then it is time to start making. You can work with the clay on the wheel, build with slabs or coils, or combine different techniques. You are free to bring your own ideas and see how this local clay behaves and responds to the way you work.

Once the pieces are made, we will add slips and glazes before loading them into the Olsen wood-fired salt kiln. But first, there is some work to do: the firewood needs to be cut and split, and the kiln needs to be carefully packed with our pots and sculptures.

Small pots of kitchen salt, Orton cones and witness rings will be placed at different points in the kiln. Then the firing begins. As the temperature rises, the flames move through the kiln and around the pots, while more and more wood is added. The salt enters the process and reacts with the clay and glazes, creating surfaces that are impossible to fully predict.

This is what makes wood and salt firing so exciting. The fire becomes part of the making process, and every piece comes out of the kiln with its own marks, colours and surprises.

And then comes the moment everyone has been waiting for: opening the kiln. Together, we will discover what happened inside and see how our wild clay, glazes and pots have been transformed by fire and salt into unique pieces.