OT: French Butter Keeper

CTMike · November 2024

My uncle’s first Anagama was called the Dragon Kiln, and he was profiled on the local PBS station here:

https://video.kqed.org/video/oregon-art-beat-season-10-episode-23/

The first 10 minutes is devoted to Richard, the dragon kiln, and the community involved with it. It amazes me that most pieces go in to the kiln white, and the color all comes from the ash from the various different species of wood used in the firing.

He did a residency in New Zealand with some Māori potters (called Muddies). When the kiln needed to be rebuilt, (he used the whale skeleton that I showed in a previous post), some of the Muddies came over for the first firing. The Māori christened the kiln “Ahikaaroa,” which evidently means “long ago fire.”

Anyhow, I sent an email to ask if he would consider adding a few more butter keepers in his next firing, and what the price might be. I will post the answer when I get it.

CTMike · November 2024

PMs sent to those who expressed interest in one of these from my Uncle. If anyone else is interested, the price is $60 (shipping included), and they would ship sometime late January/early February. Also, he has no control over the finished coloring. The pieces go in to the anagama white - all of the color comes from the ash and smoke of the various woods used to fire the kiln.

If seriously interested please send me a PM.

CTMike · November 2024

So I just heard back from my Aunt. For butter bells fired in the Anagama kiln, that isn’t getting fired again till April.

If anyone wants one sooner (the late Jan/early Feb timeframe I mentioned), those would be fired in his traditional electric kiln.

Buckwoody Egger · November 2024

thanks for sharing this. great thread

Ozzie_Isaac · November 2024

DM sent, I’m fine waiting for either, but the Anagram Kiln would be super cool and April is just a hop skip and a jump away

fishlessman · November 2024

I'm good for the old kiln, don't mind the wait. Would me nice for a pic of the kiln too to frame. Would pay for that too

Legume · November 2024

Same, the finish on the whale kiln is worth waiting for.

CTMike · January 26

UPDATE: I checked in with my Aunt and Uncle about these butter keepers and the next firing of the Anagama. He is still planning on doing the firing the end of April/Early May.

So far I have the following folks wanting one of these:

- @caliking
- @fishlessman
- @Legume
- @Ozzie_Isaac

If anyone else is interested, the price is $60, and includes shipping. Please let me know if anyone else is interested in the next couple weeks, as space in the kiln is filling up (he has a whole community that uses his during the quarterly firings).

Elijah · January 26

I'm in for one. A bell is my favorite butter accessory and the story makes it better.

CTMike · January 27

Adding @Elijah and @OhioEgger (sorry for overlooking you) to the list.

Ozzie_Isaac · January 27

Looking forward to it …. I would be interested in 2 actually.

RRP · January 27

Mike - I have been trying to find the picture(s) of yours and for some reason I can't pull up link. Mind showing it again or grabbing the link yourself? Thanks!

CTMike · January 27

RRP said:

Mike - I have been trying to find the picture(s) of yours and for some reason I can't pull up link. Mind showing it again or grabbing the link yourself? Thanks!

CTMike · January 27

fishlessman said:

I'm good for the old kiln, don't mind the wait. Would me nice for a pic of the kiln too to frame. Would pay for that too

I'll see what I can do about a photo.

CTMike · January 27

Updated list:

- @caliking
- @fishlessman
- @Legume
- @Ozzie_Isaac (2)
- @Elijah
- @dbCooper
- @OhioEgger

CTMike · January 28

As an update my Uncle tells me he has room for 10
of these in the next firing, and 9 are spoken for (we are gifting one to my son and DIL).

If there is one more person interested let me know,
otherwise he will sell it in his gallery.

Thanks all.

Gandolf · January 29

If I’m not too late count me in.

CTMike · January 29

Ok,

So @gandolf completes the list for the spring firing. As we get nearer I will send each of you a PM with details on how to make payments to him.

He usually does at least 3 firings per year so there may be another opportunity if there is more interest.

Thanks all.

Elijah · April 15

Any update?

CTMike · May 8

Elijah said:

Any update?

Lemme check with my Aunt and Uncle.

CTMike · May 9

@caliking
@Legume
@fishlessman
@OhioEgger
@Ozzie_Isaac (x2)
@Elijah
@dbCooper
@Gandolf

Below is the update from my Aunt. I replied asking if they take Venmo and will update here when I get a reply. The list above is in order by date when I received replies from y’all. Please let me know if you are definite and I will finalize details with my Aunt.

Thanks

Ozzie_Isaac · May 9

Cool! Looking forward to it.

caliking · May 9

Thanks, Mike.

Is it too late to up my order? If possible, I'm in for 3 total.

Ozzie_Isaac · May 9

caliking said:

Thanks, Mike.

Is it too late to up my order? If possible, I'm in for 3 total.

If @CTMike cannot allocate 3 to you, you can have my extra one.

CTMike · May 9

caliking said:

Thanks, Mike.

Is it too late to up my order? If possible, I'm in for 3 total.

I’ll see what I can do.

CTMike · May 9

caliking said:

Thanks, Mike.

Is it too late to up my order? If possible, I'm in for 3 total.

I just emailed my Aunt asking her to add 2 more to the batch.
So the order so far is:

@caliking
@Legume
@fishlessman
@OhioEgger
@Ozzie_Isaac (x2)
@Elijah
@dbCooper
@Gandolf
@caliking (2)

So the list is in order of how y’all messaged me or posted in the thread. As you might expect, sometime things happen in a wood-fired kiln. So if less than 11 make it out of the kiln undamaged, they will be distributed in the above order.

Elijah · May 9

All good. Just let me know.

Legume · May 9

Thanks !

fishlessman · May 10

I'm behind the times with Venmo, could send a check Monday or PayPal if he accepts that. If not I'll look into Venmo, does my AOL acct work with Venmo

CTMike · May 10

fishlessman said:

I'm behind the times with Venmo, could send a check Monday or PayPal if he accepts that. If not I'll look into Venmo, does my AOL acct work with Venmo

I’m thinking it would be easiest for everyone to just send a check to me (or Venmo or PayPal), and I’ll send one check to my Aunt. Once I found out how many pieces make it out of the kiln, then I’ll reach out to start arranging payments.

OT: French Butter Keeper

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