Firing

Pit Firing

Pit firing is an old method for firing pottery. Kilns havereplaced pit firing as the most popular method of firing pottery. Leaves a splattered pattern.

 

Unfired pots are placed in a pit, in the ground and then covered with flamable materials such as leaves, sawdust,mulch, salts and dry cow poop. The top of the pit is covered with moist clay, pieces of wood or metal. Then light the pit on fire until most of the flammable material is burning. After cooling, pots are taken out and cleaned.Patterns and colors are left by ash and salt. Pots may then be finished with wax.

 

 

Foil Saggar

A quick and easy variation on saggar firing is aluminum foil saggar. Mix up copper sulfate, fine sea salt, cottonseed meal, water, baking soda, and 1/2 part each copper carbonate and titanium dioxide water to create “swamp juice”.Mix the same swamp juice in a shallow bowl with just enough water to make the mixture froth. Once the mix bubbles up, touch the pot to the bubbles to give it a lacy texture. The mixture can also be brushed or splashed onto the pot. The saggar is made with foil that has been crinkled up and then spread back out. Scatter some steel wool or copper wire, cotton and wood chips on the foil, and then place wet seaweed over everything. Next the pot is placedupside down onto the items. More seaweed, cotton, wood chips and steel wool are then placed over the pot. Finally, the foil is wrapped around to cover the pot and pressed. The pots are stacked in a kiln and fired.

Paper saggar

 

Another saggar method is paper bag. Put the treated clay pot in a paper bag. Then tear strips of newspaper, dip them in clay slop/slip, wrapping around paper bagged piece. I usually wrap at least 3 to 5 layers of strips then let it dry for a while. Fire these pieces in a raku kiln. Leave a crackled look.