It's now time to begin loading the ware into the firing chambers. (View Image) The posts standing on small feet of wadding are carefully carried to the long platform that runs almost the entire length of the door-side of the kiln. This serves as a level work surface where we can sort wares by height to facilitate the stacking process. We select pots that will fit between shelves that are supported by fire brick posts of differing dimension. One person is able to work in the firing chamber carefully placing pots. Two work just outside handing posts into the kiln. Several others continue to carry and sort pots while another ferries new kiln shelves as the ones inside are covered with wares. (View Image)
After lunch the MCG groups reverse and the teams that had spent the morning at the kiln, head down to Ridgeway to work on their book covers. The paste papers that had been drying overnight are now wrinkly and warped. Meg shows us how to use irons on high heat to flatten the papers. Next we select pieces of book board and carefully sand the rough edges. These are wrapped and glued with paste paper to make our covers. We also put together registers, the bundles of folded paper that will be sewn into our bindings using the Coptic stitch method. (View Image)
As 5 p.m. approaches, we are almost ready to brick-up the kiln doors. A few students head to Northlight for the movement class. Others stay down in Ridgeway to work on their books. Those participating in the Passover ceremony hurry to the Pines to begin the Seder. Much to our surprise, about forty people are in attendance, many attending a Passover ceremony for the first time. We discuss the broad themes of the Passover holiday: telling, remembrance, sacrifice, risk, simplicity, faith and freedom. This is followed by a description of the foods on the Seder plate and their symbolic meanings. Our students of the Jewish faith will then chant some of the prayers and questions in Hebrew. We end our brief ceremony with stories that Charles Kyobe shares from his boyhood in Uganda, years living under the dictatorship of Idi Amin Dada. After dinner we head back to Ridgeway where we bind our journals and then we are back to our dorms by 11pm.