The fire for creating handmade pottery burns hot for Leanne Carlson. Soon, it will burn like never before, in a custom kiln she is constructing at her home studio. It is designed to cook varieties of clay never before possible in the Prince George area.
The local potter has spent her life learning the intricacies of the craft, to the point of knowing the molecular structures of the glazes and clays used to shape the bowls and jugs and vases and other items in her repertoire. This study has taught her about the importance of a few degrees of heat in the firing process, and the tiny but important particles of heat resistance within each cup of clay.
Clay is everywhere, a common soil material skinning the Earth, but for the making of pottery, some is much better than others.
Her search for the world's best clay took her as far as China, but the knowledge led her to the most unusually short distance, just upstream from Prince George on a Fraser River riverbank. The clay she found there is the inspirational fuel for the path she is now blazing to the workshop at her studio where she is installing a kiln hot enough to use it.
"This clay is so unique - I've had it tested out at Cone 32 - that people all over Canada are interested in it," said Carlson.
"In all my research I've only heard of clay getting as high as Cone 10 from any source in Canada. This is rare."
The Cone system she was describing is the scale used in the clay industry for how much heat a sample of clay can withstand, and thus the way it will shape up and respond to glaze. The hotter the clay can get, the more structurally desirable it is for making pottery and ceramics.
Most of the clay items made by the Prince George Potters Guild is rated below Cone 10. The guild's kiln will go that hot.
Many potters make items with higher-Cone clay than that, but they have to take it out of town to be fired (heated to the point of properly setting). Carlson and other locals often use one situated in Red Deer for these specialty pieces.
Her unique clay find appears to be specific to one location alone, and extracting it from that spot (location specifics withheld as it is on private property) required obtaining the right certifications from the Ministry of Mines. She had to stake a claim, but her El Dorado wasn't gold, it was grey and greasy.
Obtaining the mining rights to that property was a matter of luck, she said. They had been held for the past century by other people who also seemed to understand the rare properties of that pocket of clay.
In fact, she said, others of unknown identity attempted to lay claim to the same spot only a few hours after she completed the paperwork.
A Ministry of Mining official said there were several claims in the Prince George area for clay, almost all of them at about the Cone 2 level. These claims are primarily for making bricks or other industrial-use items.
There is one other claim of similar nature to Carlson's, too. A clay deposit on the Cottonwood River between Prince George and Quesnel has Cone 26 clay. The ministry official knew of no mining activity at that location. Carlson said she had heard of this deposit but had never encountered any clay from this spot, or anyone who had used it to make any pottery.
"These clay sites are treated as mineral deposits under the regulatory system in B.C., but almost always it is just for the personal use of the one who holds the claim," the official said.
"But in general, clay can be used for many applications: bricks, tiles, to neutralize acid, in cosmetics, spa treatments."
Carlson named her primary Cone 32 material Angel Clay, in honour of Jack Angel, a gold miner and friend who connected her to this site in the first place and explained the process of obtaining the mineral rights.
She invented a blended recipe for a Cone 10 version as well, and called that Dragon Clay named in honour of the learning she did in China.
These raw natural resource products both come from within an easy drive of Prince George, are extracted by individuals using common tools, then value-added products are made by local hands from that raw material. All of this cottage industry has oozed out of a muddy local hillside.
"This place is a mystery to me. Who was it, 100 years ago, who first thought to use that clay of all the clay in the area for making pottery?" she said.
"Who was it that put two and two together at that spot? I've been doing a lot of research on it in old newspapers and mining documents. It's fascinating."
Carlson's new kiln under construction will fire at Cone 10, so those trips to Alberta will continue for her most niche pottery work.
But she expects so much work to flow from her own hands from her cache of clay that her own Cone 10 kiln is needed.
She also has students and other potters interested in her raw material, so the additional kiln space will be a community asset once it is finished.
Carlson is launching a fundraising campaign this week to get the kiln established.
To cut costs, she has already obtained the special brick for the heating chamber for bargain-basement prices from decommissioned used kilns.
The shell of the kiln is also made from an Angel Clay blend, so another cost savings there. But running natural gas and electrical lines is expensive so she is hoping her community arts-industry will generate some crowd-sourced funds.
The public is invited to an informational open house on Friday from 4-8 p.m. where Carlson will provide the historical facts she could find about the 100-year-old clay mine, her brand new kiln about to be finished, and the many artisan products now possible thanks to this rare local earth.
Carlson's workshop is located at 3495 Hart Highway (off a western access road). She has a pottery business only one minute north where she holds classes and displays pottery and other clayworks.
