All of my work has been fired in kilns fueled with wood. While I am responsible for designing and creating the forms, most of the color and surface characteristics come from the fire and the by-products of combustion. It is the collaborative nature of this relationship that continues to drive my interest in this very labor-intensive but highly satisfying way of working with clay. On some of the food-related forms, as a decorative element, I often incorporate impressions from leaves taken from the plants in my vegetable garden. The resulting fossilized leaf shapes commemorate the dual passions of pottery and gardening.