AUGUST 2026 – Perry Hill Pottery Studio

I’m so excited to finally be participating in the Vermont Crafts Council Open Studio Weekend this October. The main reason I haven’t joined in previous years is that my pottery studio is in the basement of my home—not exactly the most welcoming space for visitors!

 

 

Things have been changing around here, though. This spring I purchased a small shed that will serve as my showroom, making it much easier to welcome guests. And after dreaming about it since I first discovered pottery 15 years ago, I’ve also taken the leap into wood firing.

 

 

The most exciting milestone has been the arrival of my new compact wood kiln, which was delivered on July 21. When most people think of wood-fired kilns, they picture massive structures that can take several days to fire. Mine is quite different. It’s a new style of compact wood kiln designed and built by master kiln builder Judah Birkeland in Minnesota. Judah constructs each kiln in his workshop, ships it to its new home, then travels to the site to install it and guide the owner through the first firing.

 

 

It took several months of preparation before the kiln was ready to arrive. The biggest project was building a structure to shelter it—commonly called a kiln shed—although mine isn’t fully enclosed. We built it at the top of the hill behind our house, where it overlooks the beautiful Green Mountains. It’s a pretty inspiring place to spend a day firing pottery.

 

 

Delivery day was a bit of a whirlwind. I had to coordinate a telehandler to unload the kiln from the delivery truck (it weighs over 4,000 pounds!), pick Judah up from the airport, and time everything so the kiln would arrive after he did. There were definitely a few tense moments watching it make its way from the bottom of our long driveway all the way up the hill to the kiln shed, but everything went smoothly. Judah positioned it perfectly, and before long we were ready to begin the next stage—getting it fired.

 

 

For a wood kiln, it’s remarkably approachable. My first firing lasted about 12 hours, followed by another four hours of reduction cooling—a process that can produce even richer colors and surfaces on the finished pottery.

 

 

Now I’m busy preparing for Open Studio Weekend, and I’m hoping to have a firing underway while visitors are here so they can experience firsthand what a wood firing is like. If the timing doesn’t work out, I’ll still be inviting people up to the kiln shed to see the kiln, ask questions, and talk about the process. There really isn’t much I enjoy talking about more…except maybe horses! Ha!

 

Perry Hill Pottery – 81 Town Rd, Waterbury VT 05676