As each refractory shelf is emptied of it's wares, it too is passed out of the kiln and placed on a work table to be scraped and re-covered with a solution of flint and kaolin known as kiln wash. We save the second chamber for the afternoon team and use the remaining time before lunch moving and restacking wood both so that it is accessible for the next firing. (View Image)

In the glass studio, students meet artist Shane Fero whose specialization is known as flame working. This involves working with solid glass rods or hollow tubes over an open burner. We are learning first to make beads. Shane and his assistant Christine Henry explain how to operate the torches, hold the glass and understand the hottest points of the flame. Shane demonstrates the process of melting the rods gradually while rotating them constantly to fuse the molten glass evenly on a metal rod known as a mandrel. (View Image)
Slowly turning glass while staring along the tip of the flame is mesmerizing dexterously demanding. Most everyone finds some degree of success. Shane then reassembles the group for a demonstration of figurative sculpture as he crafts a winged angel with skillful technique and economy of movement. He makes it look deceptively simple, but a few of our students catch on pretty quickly with these more demanding techniques. (View Image)

As the afternoon winds down, the entire Manchester group reassembles at the kiln site for a walk of the Penland trails where the results of the previous day's stonemasonry projects are now complete. Each group is proud of the work they have accomplished and they receive the applause of the entire Guild team. Following dinner, a few students return to Ridgeway for final work on their journals, paintings and drawings. Some return to the Pines where a slide lecture is delivered by Dan Estabrook, a New York based photographer who is leading the concentration session.