Roeder on thu 27 mar 97
Nancy,
Two books will help you immensely: Smoke Firing, Jane Perryman and Sawdust
Firing by Karen Hessenburg. These are invaluable tools if you are
considering doing this more than once. Beautiful pictures, recipes,
methods, kiln diagrams, the works.
The other valuable advise is experiment. Go ahead and try all the stuff you
mentioned. Get crazy (although I, personally, would hate to be present for
the road kill firing).
Other things to try: Use both fine sawdust and wood shavings/planings. The
fine stuff will give you black, and then if you have the shavings on top,
you'll get an "oxidized stripe" over the black. Copper carbonate/and or
copper sulfate. Salt, table or rock (don't let this come in contact with
your pots, it'll eat 'em up). Masking tape may attract color. Wire of
various metals wrapped around the pot. For those not having access to the
sea, soak straw in brine, dry out and place against the pots. Goldfish
crackers reputedly leave ghost fish imprints inside a bowl or platter.
Resist the smoke with moist clay and put combistable materials beneath the
thin patty of clay, and you'll get an imprint perhaps. Experiment with
different things held close to the pot in a tin foil mummy saggar. Use
flower pots as saggars. Try charcoal. Steel wool leaves peach and rust
flashing. Burnished or terra sigged surfaces seem to attract color better
than those left plain. Plants, such as ferns, or plantian leaves placed
beneath pots frequently leave a pattern. I've heard rumors of successful
encounters with white bread! Layer sand and sawdust for layers of
oxidation, reduction. Barley hulls leave interesting marks. Miracle grow
does some interesting things, so does Tom's toothpaste. Try manganese. Did
I mention you should be wearing gloves and a well fit respirator???
The depth of the pit/kiln makes a difference, so does air present. Try
different colors of clay. Cover the kiln or don't. The heat makes a
difference in color development, so use lots of wood....or don't.
Whew, have fun,
Candice
Besides salts, egg shells, bananas and seaweed...what other
>organic and/or chemicals can you add that will give flashes?
>Also, is it better to use hardwood shavings or could one just throw in
>anything (dung, grasses, twigs, dead road kill, etc?) Share, share,
>share...I want to experiment...so throw some suggestions my way....
>gracias
>Nancy
>
Emily Henderson on thu 27 mar 97
At 09:04 AM 3/26/97 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Howdy. I am doing a pit and sawdust firing this weekend. My pieces are
>high fire sculpture clays splattered with brown iron oxide and iron
>chromate. Besides salts, egg shells, bananas and seaweed...what other
>organic and/or chemicals can you add that will give flashes?
>Also, is it better to use hardwood shavings or could one just throw in
>anything (dung, grasses, twigs, dead road kill, etc?) Share, share,
>share...I want to experiment...so throw some suggestions my way....
>gracias
>Nancy
>
>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Nancy, I do not use "chemicals" in my firings but I do know that copper
carbonate will yield red where it touches your pot. I suggest you watch it
with salt; it can yield hydrochloric acid which is something you don't want
to inhale. It will also "pit" your pots. I do use seaweed and grasses
which, in winter can be harvested here on the Orregon Coast. My experience
is that only a BIG fire gets really hot enough to fire pots and not smoke
them and different woods yield different colors. I've got my preferences
but, overall, the claybody is the trick for me. I've been through over 100;
I have 4 I like. Emily in Astoria OR where nobody is firing nothin in the
swamp today
Carol Ratliff.clayart.CLAYART.MAILING LIST on thu 27 mar 97
Hi Nancy, Another Ratliff here, are we related?
Try adding copper carb for red to pinks, cobalt for blues, Leaves sometimes
give me orangy hues. and of course raid your veggy scraps before it goes to
the compost pile.
Onion skins, banana peels, try what ever you have. Some of the centerfolds &
cover of expensive magazines are printed with ink that is ceramic pigment
based - wrap it around pots with copper wire. You can try tape or glue
resist with good results. Take very good notes but chances are it will never
be the same again.
carol ratliff in san diego
BWINER@UKCC.uky.edu on wed 2 apr 97
Emily, Please tell us what are your 4 favorite claybodies for pit firing.
And while you are at it, send me a box of seeweeds, will you?
Billy in Lexington, KY where the weather is heavenly today.
Emily Henderson on wed 2 apr 97
At 09:09 AM 4/2/97 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Emily, Please tell us what are your 4 favorite claybodies for pit firing.
>And while you are at it, send me a box of seeweeds, will you?
>Billy in Lexington, KY where the weather is heavenly today.
Seaweed is a winter only affair here. I got my sister to send me some from
Massachusetts though. The sea grass here works the best but we also have
these bigg bladder like things too, if you touch the pot with them, they can
scar the burnish, but maybe you will like this effect. It's taken me just
too long to find my 4 clays to share all with the list, but here is one of
the 4 I like for reds. It's a red earthenware that you can get from Quyle
Clay in Murphys CA (209 area code I think) Quyle is a mom and pop outfit
with many of the family members involved. It burnishs very nicely but you
must work FAST before it drys out. It will fire rust with black smoke marks
as a rule. I fire primarily in doug fir and cedar; you may get a different
effect using different woods but I think it's pretty stable. This throws
fine and is good for handbuilding. Emily in Astoria OR epfizh@pacifier.com
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