clay&maxwell on wed 12 may 99
Hi Marcia
You suggested someone try "firing" in a small BBQ with a little sawdust and
charcoal. Could you elaborate?
I'm assuming this is a kind of above ground, not too smokey "pitfiring"?
I've always wanted to try pitfiring but I think my neighbors might object.
Is the BBQ method good for suburbia?
Thanks for the info
Deb Clay
in suburban and slightly chilly Calgary
Larry Phillips on thu 13 may 99
clay&maxwell wrote:
> I've always wanted to try pitfiring but I think my neighbors might
> object.
A method I heard of, but never tried, is to use a fireplace. Get
yourself a 5 gallon pail, of the type used for holding paint or
driveway sealer, ensuring that it is metal. Use this just as you
would a pit, filling the pail with sawdust and pots, and firing it in
the fireplace.
--
---------------------------------------------------------------
I like deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound of them
as they go flying by.
http://cr347197-a.surrey1.bc.wave.home.com/larry/
Marcia Selsor on thu 13 may 99
It is something I have played with in my nice neighborhood. It is a tad
smokey but no more than a BBQ. I used a little weber (black orb) BBQ
with a cover, sawdust and charcoal. There is a woman at the Northern
Clay Center in Minneapolis who did this with some beautiful results on
small precious pieces -pastels and black and white burnished pots.
You can throw them on after cooking. Why waste that good heat? That is a
similar process to pit firings-establish a bed of coals and put the pots
on a grill above the coals, cover with dung/sawdust. (You may want to
eliminate the dung if it bothers you, (bothers my hubby) but remember
folks cook with dung in other parts of the world. Horse dung gives a
good rich black.
The vent on the weber can control the air.
Marcia
clay&maxwell wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Hi Marcia
> You suggested someone try "firing" in a small BBQ with a little sawdust and
> charcoal. Could you elaborate?
> I'm assuming this is a kind of above ground, not too smokey "pitfiring"?
> I've always wanted to try pitfiring but I think my neighbors might object.
> Is the BBQ method good for suburbia?
> Thanks for the info
> Deb Clay
> in suburban and slightly chilly Calgary
--
Marcia Selsor
selsor@imt.net
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls/spain99.html
Olivia T Cavy on thu 13 may 99
Hi all,
I've done a little pit firing in a raised hard brick barbeque-type box in
Colorado, covered by a piece of leftover propanel roofing. However last
fall in suburban Pittsburgh I put twigs and logs in my Weber grill, and
"pit fired" some pots. I would have used sawdust, had there been some. I
used the bottom grill, where the charcoal normally sits, and removed the
top grill. I closed off the bottom air vents in the grill, and after the
fire was going well, I put the lid on, closing off the air vents there,
too. I put the pots into the fire from the beginning because they were
made of cone 6 porcelain and I was concerned about cracking from thermal
shock. I was also quite careful when I stirred up my fire, NOT to crack
the pots, which I've done in previous fires.
Yes, there was a lot of smoke, but not more than when grilling high fat
meat that drips fat into the fire. Oh, yes, the exterior of the Weber
got hot enough to melt the plastic handle on the brush we used to use to
scrub off burnt food particles from the grill. I will say that the smoke
went on longer than my average dinner barbeque. ;-) None of my
neighbors said anything to me.
If it were concerned about complaining neighbors, I'd first try it using
a minimal fire, because you can always refire!
The pots ended up with nice smoke patterns, and some dark reds where I
had dipped the bisqued pots into a copper sulphate solution. I'd do it
again (and I will). One firing is hardly a large sample, but you've got
to start with the first time!
Bonnie
Bonnie D. Hellman
Pittsburgh, PA
work email: bdh@firstcaptl.com or oliviatcavy@juno.com
home email: mou10man@sgi.net
On Wed, 12 May 1999 17:07:03 EDT clay&maxwell
writes:
>
>----------------------------Original
>message----------------------------
>Hi Marcia
>You suggested someone try "firing" in a small BBQ with a little
>sawdust and
>charcoal. Could you elaborate?
>I'm assuming this is a kind of above ground, not too smokey
>"pitfiring"?
>I've always wanted to try pitfiring but I think my neighbors might
>object.
>Is the BBQ method good for suburbia?
>Thanks for the info
>Deb Clay
>in suburban and slightly chilly Calgary
>
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Merrill Rush on fri 14 may 99
When you say you dipped pots in a copper sulfate "solution",do you mean that
you just dissolved copper sulfate in water.Can you please elaborate?or should
I say
WOULD you please----
Merrill
Just dying to try my first pit firing and soaking up all the notes and
suggestions you all are posting
Thanks !!
Gail Dapogny on fri 21 may 99
Bonnie, How long did the entire firing take, and then how long the cooling?
Thanks. ---Gail Dapogny in Ann Arbor
>I've done a little pit firing in a raised hard brick barbeque-type box in
>Colorado, covered by a piece of leftover propanel roofing. However last
>fall in suburban Pittsburgh I put twigs and logs in my Weber grill, and
>"pit fired" some pots. I would have used sawdust, had there been some. I
>used the bottom grill, where the charcoal normally sits, and removed the
>top grill. I closed off the bottom air vents in the grill, and after the
>fire was going well, I put the lid on, closing off the air vents there,
>too. I put the pots into the fire from the beginning because they were
>made of cone 6 porcelain and I was concerned about cracking from thermal
>shock. I was also quite careful when I stirred up my fire, NOT to crack
>the pots, which I've done in previous fires.
>
>Yes, there was a lot of smoke, but not more than when grilling high fat
>meat that drips fat into the fire. Oh, yes, the exterior of the Weber
>got hot enough to melt the plastic handle on the brush we used to use to
>scrub off burnt food particles from the grill. I will say that the smoke
>went on longer than my average dinner barbeque. ;-) None of my
>neighbors said anything to me.
>
>If it were concerned about complaining neighbors, I'd first try it using
>a minimal fire, because you can always refire!
>
>The pots ended up with nice smoke patterns, and some dark reds where I
>had dipped the bisqued pots into a copper sulphate solution. I'd do it
>again (and I will). One firing is hardly a large sample, but you've got
>to start with the first time!
>
>Bonnie
Olivia T Cavy on tue 25 may 99
Gail,
You're not going to find my answer satisfactory, because I didn't time it
but I'd guess the whole thing from gathering the kindling/logs was no
more than 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. I started the fire in the Webber with
kindling (small dead branches gathered from around the yard) with a few
larger ones, and a few pieces of newspaper, adding larger logs around the
edges as the fire grew. At the peak of the fire, I put the cover on the
grill, with all the holes closed on the bottom of the grill, and the
cover, and watched the smoke pour out of the grill. (Ours is an old grill
and doesn't seal tightly.)
I was getting impatient as the fire was dying down, and I actually
removed the pots from the fire (using my dipping tongs) and hastened
their cooling that way.
My experience with pit firing and smoke firing in general is that each
firing is different depending on what is being burned. Since I always
bisque fire my pieces first and I'm not depending on the Weber/pit firing
to mature the clay, I'm just looking for effects. These are not
functional pots because they're only fired to ^06 mostly without glaze,
although a crackle glaze looks nice with smoke. They're intended to be
purely decorative.
I'm NOT encouraging anyone to follow my very unscientific methods. But I
would encourage anyone who is interested to just go out and give it a
try. Unless you thermally shock the pots or break them by trying to move
them around or drop something heavy on them (like a log) or they fall,
you aren't going to ruin them. You can always rebisque and eliminate all
smoke marks. I considered that I was playing when I tried the Webber
grill smoking. And I like to play!
Bonnie
Bonnie D. Hellman
Pittsburgh, PA
work email: bdh@firstcaptl.com or oliviatcavy@juno.com
home email: mou10man@sgi.net
On Fri, 21 May 1999 10:20:02 EDT Gail Dapogny
writes:
>
>----------------------------Original
>message----------------------------
>Bonnie, How long did the entire firing take, and then how long the
>cooling?
>Thanks. ---Gail Dapogny in Ann Arbor
>
>
>
>>I've done a little pit firing in a raised hard brick barbeque-type
>box in
>>Colorado, covered by a piece of leftover propanel roofing. However
>last
>>fall in suburban Pittsburgh I put twigs and logs in my Weber grill,
>and
>>"pit fired" some pots. I would have used sawdust, had there been
>some. I
>>used the bottom grill, where the charcoal normally sits, and removed
>the
>>top grill. I closed off the bottom air vents in the grill, and after
>the
>>fire was going well, I put the lid on, closing off the air vents
>there,
>>too. I put the pots into the fire from the beginning because they
>were
>>made of cone 6 porcelain and I was concerned about cracking from
>thermal
>>shock. I was also quite careful when I stirred up my fire, NOT to
>crack
>>the pots, which I've done in previous fires.
>>
>>Yes, there was a lot of smoke, but not more than when grilling high
>fat
>>meat that drips fat into the fire. Oh, yes, the exterior of the
>Weber
>>got hot enough to melt the plastic handle on the brush we used to use
>to
>>scrub off burnt food particles from the grill. I will say that the
>smoke
>>went on longer than my average dinner barbeque. ;-) None of my
>>neighbors said anything to me.
>>
>>If it were concerned about complaining neighbors, I'd first try it
>using
>>a minimal fire, because you can always refire!
>>
>>The pots ended up with nice smoke patterns, and some dark reds where
>I
>>had dipped the bisqued pots into a copper sulphate solution. I'd do
>it
>>again (and I will). One firing is hardly a large sample, but you've
>got
>>to start with the first time!
>>
>>Bonnie
>
___________________________________________________________________
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Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
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