Of a Shipwreck and Pottery..

Schalk and Helene Kruger walked the beach westwards to Cannon Rocks

Schalk couldn't understand why a person would want to buy a house so close to the beach

They passed a little cottage nestled just off the beach on a sand dune, on the eastern extreme of the hamlet, that changed Schalk's view. He voiced 'maybe, just maybe...if that very cottage comes up for sale...'

Six months later, in a Middleburg newspaper, there it was! The Kruger's bought the cottage and from 1986 onward spent every holiday there

Schalk's son, Kobus, completed his Fine Art studies at the University of Free State, South Africa, and moved to Cannon Rocks permanently in 1994

Kobus converted the original structure into a one-room self-catering tourist facility called Shipwreck Cottage. His passion is pottery

Lets take a look at three of Kobus's alternative firing methods

Smoke Fired

These vases are fired in the traditional African way, in a pit

Instead of using cow dung, Kobus employs locally sourced Elephant and Rhinoceros dung, which produces different effects

He has no control over the final outcome, each pot is unique

Saggar Fired

The vase is soaked in soluble salts, then wrapped with combustible materials, placed in a metal container with a lid, and fired to 1000 degrees Celsius

Horse Hair Fired

These pots are fired in a gas kiln to red heat (around 800 degrees Celsius), taken out with tongs, and then Horse Hair or Feathers are applied to burn into the wall of the vessel, permanently marking it

You can contact Kobus on +27 84 699 2975