At its core Maine Kiln Works is a family run business. Dan Weaver is chief maker and jack-of-all-trades, Liz Weaver managed the shipping, inventory, and sales shop, and I (Joanna Weaver) do media and marketing while also training as assistant maker.
![The Family Unit — 2010](https://i0.wp.com/kilnworks.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/IMG_1245-copy-480x360.jpg?resize=316%2C236&ssl=1)
The three of us are the heart of the Maine Kiln Works team. Other people participate from time to time, usually as apprentices. I have particularly fond memories of several of these people—Connor McLean, a hardworking apprentice from Northern Ireland who could always get us to laugh, the cheerful and patient Meg, and the energetic Patrick Barter who can still be seen dropping by for a visit or to borrow a piece of machinery before dashing off to deliver mugs to Gracenote Coffee shop in downtown Boston.
Each day at the Kiln Works is different. I’ll get up, have a cup of tea in my favorite tenmoku tankard, take a look at my to-do list and plan the day. The options are almost endless—one day I may be loading a kiln, the next looking after the sales shop, fighting with WooCommerce to get the website to function properly, running clay through the filter press, editing a video, or organizing our vast sink inventory. The variety and the ability to choose what I will work on when I get up in the morning is refreshing.
— Joanna Weaver
![Beloved Apprentice Conor McLean who came all the way from Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK, to West Gouldsboro.](https://i0.wp.com/kilnworks.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Conor11_Web_IMG_4021-263x360.jpg?resize=263%2C360&ssl=1)
![Patrick Barter of Gracenote Coffee Shop, Lincoln Street, Boston.](https://i0.wp.com/kilnworks.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GracenotePatrick_web_IMG_0062-240x360.jpg?resize=240%2C360&ssl=1)
![Meg Slip Casting](https://i0.wp.com/kilnworks.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/MegSlipCasting2-240x360.jpg?resize=240%2C360&ssl=1)
![Liz, Joanna, Dan](https://i0.wp.com/kilnworks.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/LizJoannaDan800-480x311.jpg?resize=480%2C311&ssl=1)
![Joanna oils lamp spindles, 2017.](https://i0.wp.com/kilnworks.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/TowelBarsJoanna17_IMG_1038-480x320.jpg?resize=480%2C320&ssl=1)
![Friend and Apprentice Nancy Werth — Sink Detailing](https://i0.wp.com/kilnworks.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/nancy-480x360.jpg?resize=480%2C360&ssl=1)