The wood-fired pots you see here are a result of a three-day-long firing process in a 16-foot long anagama style kiln. This Japanese wood-fired style of pottery has gradually undergone temperatures up to 2400 degrees, using more than three cords of wood. The extreme heat vitrifies all the air out of the clay, creating the most strong and durable of all pottery forms. The fire and fly ash from the different types of wood used (pinon, juniper, and cottonwood) help create interesting and unique patterns and colorations with the glazes and clay-bodies of each piece, depending on where the piece lies within the kiln chamber. Pieces that have been fired in the salt chamber (a chamber separate to the rest of the kiln, typical of a noborigama style kiln, where several pounds of salt are added to the atmosphere of the kiln during the final stages of the firing) develop a very smooth, natural finish that is very sensual to the touch, even where no glaze has been added to the surface of the pieces.      This kiln is located in Pot Creek, where a 1600 year old tradition continues, dating back to Pre-Anasazi times. Pot Creek was so named by the first Spanish in the area when they discovered the large number of pots that lined the streambed. They named the waterway, "Rito de la Olla."