Clay was perhaps one of the first gifts of the earth that man was able to appreciate and make both beautiful and useful. It continues to be so right up to the present day providing as it does a protective shield to the rockets of outer space travel. In its simpler uses it is not so “outer space,” and has in the Christian era seemed a material well suited to monastic industries, and recently became so at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Holy Ghost when someone gave them a kiln. Thus thrown into the current they taught themselves the art of pottery.

Teaching themselves seems to be a tradition with them. There is really nothing that should be considered impossible. Perhaps this is true, for what, after all, seems more impossible than becoming a saint and yet that is exactly what we are all supposed to become.

Meanwhile back at the kiln a lot of “pots” had to be ruined before they learned enough right ways to make it all worthwhile. Edison had once remarked something about having learned one thousand and one ways not to make rubber out of goldenrod. Things were not quite that hectic. There were enough pleasant surprises to make it exciting and there continues to be.

Ceramics have generally suffered from over refinement in the raw materials used since this industry got underway. When the monotony of this manufactured look began to wear on aesthetic tastes, natural impurities (also refined) were often added in hopes of regaining the down-to-earth look. You can hardly get more down-to-earth than good old Georgia clay and that is what the works are using, with even the grass roots sometimes remaining in it and burning out when the pottery is being fired, leaving marks as natural as those left in fossilized rocks.

Once when one of the monks was trying to find a suitable clay, he asked a local potter where he had obtained the clay he was using. “From your property,” was the unexpected answer. But that was at the time they were bulldozing for the first lake and already there has been the building and completion of a second lake. Maybe the third which is in the offing will provide the monastery with the clay as local as local can be. At least the Department of Agriculture’s prognostication is coming closer to being realized when it answered the late Dom Robert’s inquiry as to what the soil was good for with the reply “...for making bricks.”

After learning to make pottery on the wheel with the help of Professor Dick Palmer at Georgia State in Atlanta, it was almost simultaneously learned how difficult it is to make a financial go of such studio work. As a result single pieces were designed and then taken to a local potter whose years of practice make it possible for him to turn out a great quantity which, after an initial firing called “bisque firing,” was brought back to the monastery, then glazed and further decorated and fired in the monastery kiln at much higher temperatures, sometimes reaching twenty-four hundred degrees Fahrenheit. In this way the desirable qualities of completely handmade work was assured.

Before this, however, there was a long search in learning the rather receptive process of glazing. Valuable formulas are not just handed out by those who have gained them through years of work and expense. Even if they were, each hand built kiln would produce different results on the same glaze and so there are few short cuts. Even each firing in the same kiln has its differences and this enhances the ware that each piece comes out “an individual,” especially since each area in the kiln is a little different in heat intensity.

In composition a glaze is similar to a thin layer of glass adhering to the clay body, but much harder due to the aluminum which is lacking in the composition of glass. In China, glaze was first discovered by noticing how bricks in the kiln nearest the fire had a slick coating due to the ashes from the fire; and so a mixture of watery clay and ashes was made and a coating painted on the pieces before firing. This may still be done but many other elements are used now in place of ashes; lead, borzx, feldspar to name a few. The dry ingredients are carefully weighed, mixed with water and then dipped, painted or sprayed onto the pottery. Often in appearance it resembles whitewash; but due to metal oxides and carbonates, it will turn various colors when fired. Our local Georgia clay will also have a great effect on the color because of its high iron content. This is all to the good for it tones down harsh shades and gives them a warm earthy touch with variations of tone as most natural things have.

The next commodities needed in the new industry were customers. These didn’t seem to be as numerous as the budding pottery, but now that people have seen it on sale at Rich’s they are amazed to find that it has been on sale at the monastery for almost two years without their having noticed it sandwiched in among all of Brother Hugh’s many items in the gift shop. It is also on sale at St. Joseph’s Gift Shop at the hospital and at the Auto Museum Gift Shop at Stone Mountain. It was recently displayed at the Dixie Flower and Garden Show at the Merchandise Mart where Mr. Ed Contad generously donated space. Mrs. Ayers was the first customer and still uses it in her flower business and Harper’s Flowers were the second customer and likewise use it in some of their arrangements. In all, the customers are fast catching up with production.