One Man’s Garbage is Another Man’s Treasure

September 12th, 2009 at 10:53am pksullivan

I am becoming a connoisseur of fine….. sawdust. 

Ever since I started my Vortices Series in 2005 I have been on a quest to find fuel for the sawdust firings that give my ceramic, double-walled, interlaced vessels the subtle palette of grays only achievable in a reduction atmosphere.  My search led me to a wonderful, and consistent, source of cedar sawdust from a business in Suffolk County specializing in outdoor arbors and fences.  However, a steady diet of even a good thing becomes old, so…..I went in search of more variety and….. voilá.  My new best friend, Will, of Will Paulsen Woodworking, on the North Fork of L.I., is now my preferred supplier of hard wood sawdust, the by-product of his architectural millwork and furniture making studio.  Two recent bags of cherry sawdust from one of his hoppers added reddish brown and soft blue grey to my palette.  He provided three bags of poplar sawdust for me to use in my next firing and has set aside more cherry and a bag of sawdust from an African tree with which I am unfamiliar. 

The prospect of experimenting with my precious new sawdust is exciting………..maybe, I really do need to get a life.

Entry Filed under: in the studio