On Sunday, March 27, we managed to be present for unloading of freshly fired pottery from the kiln. The ceramists Petr Novák and Mirka Randová, whose work you already know from our website, live in the village of Doupě, where they are reconstructing a farmhouse and building the Ceramics Studio Doupě (www.kcdoupe.cz). They use it for their own work as well as for holding ceramic workshops and meetings.
On Sunday morning, we arrived in a muddy yard of the farmhouse, around which the Třešť stream passes, surrounded in a future Japanese garden. We were welcomed by Petr, Mirka was currently in Telč. We proceeded to open the kiln in the garden. The pottery firing had taken place on Thursday (throughout the day) and the kiln was left to cool down until Sunday. Petr slowly removed refractory bricks and we had a chance to see the first rows of brand new teapots, cups, trays and bowls… Petr and Mirka prefer wood-firing, as this technique makes the pottery original, irregular, unique. For us, as amateurs and admirers of their pottery, this was absolutely fascinating. Petr described how he removed the bottom line towards the end of firing and threw in charcoal, which created special effects on the ceramics.
We watched how the kiln got gradually open, Petr let it open to cool off and invited us for tea. Meanwhile, Mirka returned and joined us. After several brews of delicious Ding Dong from 1983, we returned to the kiln. Petr and Mirka began placing their ceramics in containers. They took each piece lovingly in their hands, commenting on it (and being quite critical, they definitely sieve their products thoroughly), they were happy about good pieces and stacked them in crates. They also inspected glaze samples, which they tested on small clay plates.
In two hours, the kiln was unloaded and everything was carried to the largest room, used as a kitchen, a workshop and a lounge. During the preparation of lunch, we were already checking the teapots, cups, coolants and we picked the best for our online tea plantation. Petr cleaned the pottery we selected, we even took some pictures and in the evening, everything was ready for transport to Brno. It was a lovely and peaceful day full of beautiful ceramics, fine tea and homemade pizza…
