Hærfestmonaþ — the harvest-month

First
Fires.

Handmade stoneware, St Albans · the first firing, 1 September

an almanac of firings

Thrown in summer. Fired in autumn. Set out while ripe — and gone when the month turns.

Hærfestmonaþ

the old word for harvest-month, when the first fires are lit

Lythe · drop nº 01 · autumn
Hærfestmonaþ · one of eighteen
Light does half the making.
how a drop works

A single firing.

Each season Lythe sets out one firing and no more — numbered, sealed, and named for the old month it belongs to. Autumn is Hærfestmonaþ, the harvest-month. When it turns to Winterfylleþ, First Fires is gone and the next is set out. Nothing is remade.

the turning of the year

Four firings, named the old way

Hærfestmonaþharvest-month · autumn
open now
Winterfylleþwinter full-moon · winter
to come
Hreðmonaþthe old spring-month
to come
Mædmonaþmeadow-month · summer
to come
by hand

No two the same.

Thrown, trimmed and glazed by hand, then fired once. The rim sits a little differently in each; the glaze settles where it wants to. Nothing is repeated exactly, because a pair of hands can't.

LYÐE Pressed into the wet foot: the eth of LYÐE— Old English lyðe, gentle. Spoken plainly: Lythe.