Yesterday and today my top studio assistant and I are thrilled to attend a group outdoor pottery firing with The Potter's Exchange. All pictures here were taken on Saturday as we prepped our work for the day of Fire on Sunday. I know such protective equipment is not standard in most pottery operations, but with such valued assistants we are leaps ahead of OSHA standards. Today her position was mostly supervisory, and she helped keep track of the cat and dog and horses and chicks living at our friend Steve's farm where the firing was taking place.
Our pottery Group is run as an UnOrganization, with all the member taking turns volunteering to host and organize events. We all pitch in to pay expenses and we have amassed a good collection of group Raku Glazes. We have a Specialized Sagger Kiln which members made during a workshop Steve hosted.
I am going to try out my new firing racks that Beads-of-Clay member Barbara Lewis Had designed for her work and so graciously offered up her extras for us to buy! I can't wait to see how they work! This rack will be used for Raku firing and hopefully Horse hair firing as well on Sunday(today)
This is my first time taking part in one of our group's Sagger Kiln firings. Here is an outdoor station where a special mixture is sprayed onto our work in order to get a red flashing affect. You can see I have set out quite a few pieces for this firing, since it is not something I am easily able to replicate at my own studio.
This is the work table where Kim and Delana are preparing their work for the kiln. Their pieces have been sprayed and they are applying a Foaming concoction the inventor calls swamp juice. Everyone has contributed wire, copper scrubbing pads, steel wool, leaves, ferns, sea weed from New Jersey, Nova Scotia, and Cape Cod, sawdust, miracle grow, and an occasional banana peel. Any number of these things are bound against the pot (beads) with Super Strong aluminum Foil and packed into the Sagger Kiln! Yep! We potter's will do anything it takes to get that perfect effect! :-)
Here is one of my Saggers as I was putting it together. (my assistant was on a Pumpkin Cake break while I applied all the goodies to my beads) I have some New Jersey Sea Weed, Nova Scotian Sea weed, Special Solution, Swamp Juice, and Copper Mesh here with these pieces. I added a fist full of Sawdust on top and bundled it up like a baked potato! I think I wrapped up 7 of these bundles, all different. I can't wait to see what happens. Like I said I have never used this kind of kiln before or any of these chemicals. It could be great.... It could be terrible... We'll see when the smoke settles.
And here is my lovely studio assistant again, posing with the Sagger kiln. It is my understanding that everything will be packed in there nice and tight and then.... FIRE!!!
Here is one of my Saggers as I was putting it together. (my assistant was on a Pumpkin Cake break while I applied all the goodies to my beads) I have some New Jersey Sea Weed, Nova Scotian Sea weed, Special Solution, Swamp Juice, and Copper Mesh here with these pieces. I added a fist full of Sawdust on top and bundled it up like a baked potato! I think I wrapped up 7 of these bundles, all different. I can't wait to see what happens. Like I said I have never used this kind of kiln before or any of these chemicals. It could be great.... It could be terrible... We'll see when the smoke settles.
And here is my lovely studio assistant again, posing with the Sagger kiln. It is my understanding that everything will be packed in there nice and tight and then.... FIRE!!! Again Here is the link to a list of all the Beads-of-Clay Blogs participating in the Open Studio Blog event today! ----http://beads-of-clay.blogspot.com/2009/10/getting-ready.html
Looks like a fun day - and the weather was perfect for a saggar firing (or any kind of group firing activity actually!). Missed seeing you "live" but really like seeing all the pictures of the firing process! Thanks for sharing!
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