Fire works: Ceramic artist builds wood fire kiln in Port Union

Michael Flaherty is a man with a vision.

Last October, he built a wood fire kiln for his artistic projects. This year, he's finally able to put the unique oven to use.

"I built the kiln last fall in October and then winter came on before I had a chance to use it," Flaherty told CBC's Central Morning.

"And I sort of bundled it all up in tarps and stuff to protect it over the winter. And I did the first firing April 29, I think it was, and just once a month or so since then. And I'm going to be doing at least a couple more this year."

Flaherty, a ceramic artist, has set up his wood fire kiln along the waterfront on the William F. Coaker Heritage Foundation property in port Union.

In his latest firing, his fourth of 2016, Flaherty had vases, pictures, bottles, saki set and a whiskey set. The spectacle even garnered a view onlookers.

There's a lot of happenstance and chance. Every piece is totally unique.- Michael Flaherty

"Oh they're marvelous. Absolutely marvelous," spectator Tom Engel said.

"We met Mike a couple of times before. I own a couple of his other pieces and we think he's just amazing," Kristy Engel said.

"When we heard that he built the wood fire kiln we went down to see his shop and bought one of the first pieces to come out of his very first firing. [We] fell in love with that."

The wood fire kiln, with a peak temperature of 1,300 C, creates a different effect on the pottery.

"The thing about wood firing is that when you burn wood it makes ash, and the ash is minerals that don't combust," Flaherty said.

"But in the kiln, when the temperature gets hot enough, the ash actually melts and forms a glass. So all those little specks of ash are flying around in the kiln there. And they're getting so hot they're turning into glass. So it's like there's a spray of liquid glass in the kiln the whole time, and so they settle all over the pieces."

Work hard, play hard

Keeping up a wood fire kiln isn't easy, and it's certainly not for the lazy.

"The wood fire kiln is laborious. You have to be there to put wood in every 10 or 15 minutes," Flaherty said.

"But because of that, it often ends up being a big social event. So people like to get together, everybody brings food, maybe you drink a beer, you hang out. It's like having a big campfire, really."

The social aspect is one of the things Flaherty loves about the kiln. The individuality of the art is another.

"There's a lot of happenstance and chance. Every piece is totally unique because it's not just the way that you glaze it, it's what happens to it in the firing, and that's out of your control a little bit," he said.

"Every piece is totally individual."