#kiln god

[claypigeonpottery]

@unwanted-dandelion-seeds

(about this guy)

a kiln god is a small clay sculptural creature that stays on/in/near a kiln while it’s firing, to watch over the pottery inside and protect it

mine are all vaguely humanoid and holding pottery, but they can be anything

a lot of people leave their kiln gods unglazed, and only ever make one or two. because I work with a shared kiln, my kiln gods have to be inside the kiln so they don’t get bumped or broken, so it makes more sense to glaze them and keep making more

(^this one I kept, she lives on my pottery desk)

people have lots of little traditions around kilns and pottery. there are so many variables to successfully finishing a piece of pottery, and many of the steps are out of our control. it’s nice to have a kiln god watching over our work

if you take a pottery class, your teacher might mention the kiln gods. for some potters/studios they’re more of a concept than anything physical

what can I say, humans just love to make little guys

[masked-fairy]

CERAMICS WOO CERAMICS!!!!!! Making a maker's mark, a can of sardines, and an anteater kiln god :3

[claypigeonpottery]

kiln gods are also A Thing!

they're little sculptural critters that potters make and leave on or around their kiln for good luck. a lot of them have to do with fire or are holding pottery (Calcifer from Howl's Moving Castle is one I've seen multiple times) but a kiln god can be anything

I share a kiln so I don't want to take up space on or near the kiln, so I just put a kiln god through with every batch of pottery

here's a selection of mine (all holding pottery)

I’m taking pottery lessons right now… and my teacher said “the kiln gods are being kind to me right now.” And that made me stop and think. Is there a god of pottery? I tried to look it up but it’s hazy.

In Ancient Greece, Athena was apparently the goddess of crafts, which is a bit vague. Hephaestus was the god of sculpting, but that’s not right either.

In Ancient Egypt, I found Khnum who made the other gods and humankind on his potter’s wheel.

I found two gods of pottery in Southeast Asian cultures, Lianaotabi and Panthoibi.

But I wasn’t able to find anyone else. Pottery being such an important part of daily life all around the world, it seems like there would be more. Does anyone know of any other gods of pottery?

[muzsmocsing]

Reading svsss really puts into perspective just how MIRACULOUSLY normal Hua Cheng turned out despite his arguably worse circumstances.

[radiantmists]

he xuan spending years trying to break out of the kiln: -_-

the massive xie lian statue in the corner:

🙂

[customcreatures]

Recently started making little Kiln Spirits to watch over other ceramic pieces during the firing process <3

[claypigeonpottery]

that’s so cool! he’s all settled in where he belongs

thank you to @claypigeonpottery for the ethereal deer god, I tried to make him welcome in his new home!

(Pics taken during spell setup)

[skybristle]

rbs > likes

made this really quick for my art fight since i finally went and did icons. theyre all on one profile soooo

[laegolas]

A fact: a god loses their divinity only when it is sealed, or when belief in them is lost.

Another fact: Hua Cheng ascended.

He was never banished - he simply abandoned heaven the moment he realized Xie Lian was not there. For many of the gods this is tantamount to a death sentence - to fade into obscurity. Hua Cheng’s survival without followers could be attributed to his ghostly origins, and his own self determination, which could be true but —

What if there was someone who sent a prayer up in remembrance of a small ghost fire who warmed a chill night. What if there was someone who lit incense for a nameless follower with a smiling mask who sacrificed everything to save everyone(someone). The offerings are meager, rare, but sincere - worth more than a million merits from gold.

Hua Cheng may be the Flower Crowned Prince’s most devoted follower. Faith, gratitude, and love, however, transform Xie Lian into Wu Ming’s steadfast believer.

[alunimoon]

I’ve been a pottery making machine these past few weeks!

[claypigeonpottery]

The differences in kiln god rituals are very interesting. My pottery professor in college had my friend and I make kiln gods for the new kilns he got on their first firing, and they just belonged to the kilns and didn't receive any type of glazing at all. Just fired the once and hung out to watch over the kilns after both they and the kilns survived first firing.

as far as I can tell, it’s more typical that kiln gods are left unglazed and stay attached to one particular kiln.

the reason I glaze and finish mine is because there’s very little space in the kiln room at the studio I go to, and we’re not allowed to leave things in there. so I put kiln gods in the kiln with my pieces, to keep an eye on things.

I know at least one other potter at my studio keeps her (unglazed) kiln god on her shelf. it’s a little gnome creature. but she used to keep it in the kiln room at the old studio.

I was taught about sculpting kiln gods during a raku class, the instructor encouraged us to make them. before that, my instructors had only mentioned kiln gods in a “hopefully the kiln gods will be kind” way—they hadn’t talked about the possibility of sculpting them ourselves.

because the raku kiln lives out in a field, we were told to take our kiln gods home afterwards, that they’d done their jobs and they could retire. that idea really stuck with me, I guess. I like them getting to retire.

I’m including some pictures of kiln gods enjoying their retirement 😁

[masked-fairy]

GLAZED!

[claypigeonpottery]

from what I’ve seen, a lot of potters who have their own kiln just have one kiln god sitting on top of their kiln, watching over it. these are mostly electric kilns as far as I know. sometimes the little gods aren’t glazed, or particularly polished/smoothed.

since I don’t have my own kiln, I make one for every time I use the shared kiln, to keep an eye on my work while it’s being fired

so really, I think it depends on the potter and their kiln(s). the ideas seem to vary widely

I’m taking pottery lessons right now… and my teacher said “the kiln gods are being kind to me right now.” And that made me stop and think. Is there a god of pottery? I tried to look it up but it’s hazy.

In Ancient Greece, Athena was apparently the goddess of crafts, which is a bit vague. Hephaestus was the god of sculpting, but that’s not right either.

In Ancient Egypt, I found Khnum who made the other gods and humankind on his potter’s wheel.

I found two gods of pottery in Southeast Asian cultures, Lianaotabi and Panthoibi.

But I wasn’t able to find anyone else. Pottery being such an important part of daily life all around the world, it seems like there would be more. Does anyone know of any other gods of pottery?

[dial-p-for-placey]

Posting the series of Supernatural portraits I made for Momento Con in Pittsburgh, PA next weekend (Aug 5th to Aug 6th)! My booth will be close to the food/concessions if you want to grab one!!

I'll be posting the others throughout the week!

[kbergceramics]

also, love this before and after 😍 the way the glaze and underglaze wash totally transform the vibe

[pasdetrois]

one of the many devastating components of moby dick's epilogue is its brevity. this tome of a novel that has discussed every fathomable aspect of the vessel and those it hunts, and it ends with a solitary paragraph in which ishmael quietly reveals his survival only after the drama is done. this seaborn(e), self named orphan (who asks us to call him such from the first line!), not yet able to weave the epitaphs that will cut the tapestry loose from the loom..