Pit Fire & Raku Results!

I love this part of the semester, when after 8 weeks of building, scraping, sanding & polishing... you finally get to see the final results of your efforts. Below, pictures from the pit firing~

Pots emerging from the fire~

Classmates looking at our freshly fired pots. There is generally a lot of pointing, ooohing & aaahing going on at this time.

I only had a few pots in this firing & here are my favorites~

We also did a couple of Raku firings at school~ below the kiln is being loaded.

Removing the hot pots from the kiln & placing them in metal cans with combustibles... generally newspaper and/or sawdust.

The pot is left inside for a period of time to reduce.

Testing pots over open flame.

Below, my faves from this firing~

Double click on any image for greater detail.

I have to admit,  I am partial to Raku firing & reduction of these pots. I think the surfaces achieved by this method are simply delicious!

:) 

While this class is over, I'll likely continue to build more pots over winter break, though most of my time the next 6 weeks will be spent focusing on creating more bears in my hand building class. I hope to have a series of pots & bear sculptures to present for the SFCC student ceramic sale coming up at the end of November! It will be my first time participating, so I'm anxious to see how it goes!

:)

Evolution of a Pot

I am not generally one to add abstract designs to my pots, but for whatever reason, on this particular day, I decided to give it a go. I have to admit, I was not happy with it at first & I was sooooo tempted to recycle it when it was in it's wet state, but a few people in class said some things that made me decide to keep it.

I cut the lid just after the photo above, and the pot began it's drying process.

Unfortunately, this is what happened as it dried~ the lid & pot dried in different directions.

I don't know why this happens exactly, but I find when I make lidded pots w/ the Micaceous Clay, the lids tend to warp. It doesn't happen every time, but I'd say with me, it happens about 1/2 the time. I've tried drying the lid with the pot, drying the lid upside down with support, and then a combination of the two. I think it is just the unpredictability of working with real, honest to goodness natural, directly "of the earth" clay. Or maybe it's just me! But I digress. This presented a challenge, and it seems I am always up for one (ha ha) so I figured I'd give it a go at repairing it.

That is one thing I love about working with Micaceous Clay... you can do repairs when it is bone dry... something you cannot easily do with commercially processed "regular" clays. It is, however, a rather tedious process. I started with water scraping & sanding down the high points. Then I began the slow process of rebuilding the rim by wetting the pot & very gradually adding more clay. You can only add a teeny bit at a time, then you must let it dry, and repeat this step over & over until it comes close to fitting.

Then you must sand, adjust, add more clay if needed. I worked on this pot little by little over the course of several weeks.

Here it is after all that work~ all sanded & ready to polish. The lid fit was not quite perfect (I am a stickler for the perfect lid fit!) but pretty close. I figured it was as close as I was going to get.

Polished pot with a fine Micaceous Slip. At this point it went into the bisque & awaited the final firing. I knew with this pot, I would want to do Raku for the 2nd firing, and as luck would have it, we did 2 Raku firings on the last day of class! Yay!

Below are the results.

:)

"Evolution Pot"
Hand dug Micaceous Clay
Hand Coiled, Sculpted, Scraped, Sanded, Polished.
Low Fire Bisque/Raku/Reduced

*Double Click on any Photo for greater detail :)

I've included many angles, as I do, to show the delicious effects of the Raku firing on Micaceous Clay. I'm in love with Raku & reducing pots... I find the effects to be simply wonderful! The lid did warp just the tiniest bit during the final firing... just enough so that again the lid does not fit just perfectly. But with clay, just as with life, things aren't alway perfect... & sometimes those little imperfections are what make life more interesting.

:)

** We just finished firing the rest of our Micaceous Pots this weekend... I'll post the results just as soon as I have time to photograph them properly!

Belated Mica Clay Class Results :)

I know... Finally!!

Though my class ended in July...  I'm just getting around to posting my pots from the Micaceous Clay class I took this Spring/Summer at my instructor's studio. (What can I say... it's been a busy summer!)

There were only a couple of us in class, so I really feel I learned a lot this time around & I was really pleased with the way this group of pots turned out. I'm not going to post all the pics of process & production (though I am all about process... it would just make for too many photographs... you'll just have to trust my words... these hand coiled pots are extremely labor intensive!) I am settling instead for showing you some of the pots as they are coming out of the fire, during testing & a few "studio' shots at the end.

:)

Pots being fired above, and fresh out of the fire below.

Above, most of the fired pots, though a couple were still in reduction. (To reduce the pot, you take it out of the fire & place in a closed receptacle like a metal trash can, along with sawdust & newspaper. It ignites immediately & when the lid is closed it starves the air of oxygen, and the result is a blackened pot.)

Once my pots are home, I test them all to make sure they all hold & boil water. I have to admit, I am kind of in love with these pots! First off, in my humble opinion, they are just gorgeous! Secondly they are a highly functional piece of fine art. And thirdly, cooking in a pot you made yourself is just, well... cool, let's face it.

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As you know I like to document, so I wanted to "professionally" photograph each pot, as it helps me keep a visual log from where I started in clay, to where I'm at skill wise, as well as to identify areas in which I need improvement. Problem is, I don't have the proper lighting set up, so this can be a challenge. 

The traditional orangish pots w/ the smoke clouds photographed alright, but I had trouble getting the color & focus right on the blackened pots. They do look much more beautiful in person, and my photographs don't do them justice, but at least you get the gist of them.

 I was unable to get them all photographed in this fashion, as I left for California soon after these pots were fired, and I took several with me to be given as gifts to friends & family.

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On a side note, yes, I am enrolled in another Micaceous Class this fall. This will be my 4th class in Micaceous... so I think it is fair to say that I am in love with this clay. While the labor intensity is beyond what I've experienced using other types of clays & other methods... I'm telling you, it all becomes worth it when you see the pots come out of the fire.

:)

I also wanted to give another special thanks to my Micaceous Clay Instructor/Mentor Brian Grossnickle, who won't be teaching at SFCC this time around. Thanks so much for sharing all your knowledge & expertise so openly with your students... and for firing our pots so beautifully. I always will keep in mind that "Symmetry is overrated," (though I am sure I will still strive for it!) and will try my best not to be a limp wristed potter :)

You will be missed!