Two Steps Forward, Many Steps Back

I'm creating this blog in the hopes that someday it may benefit others who might learn from my mistakes. Or that at least I will learn from my mistakes, or perhaps that even people who might buy from me will be interested in the process of discovering this wonderful medium of clay.

I recently just started back up with my clay after a two year haitus. It was not on purpose, but surprise twins kind of threw me for a loop for awhile. Before that, I hadn't really gotten into my clay very deeply, either. I had done a total of 3 glaze firings, one at a friends' kiln before mine was hooked up.

So to say that I am a beginner is an understatement, yet it is also true that I have felt clay as my calling since 2007.

Recently I have been making ocarinas (globular clay flutes like the ancients used to make), and even more recently I've begun experimenting with barrel firing (or smoke firing.)

Barrel firing is a technique that allows one to fire clay at a low temperature in a container with sawdust, straw, or other combustables, and let it burn very slowly over several hours, which lets the smoke penetrate the pourous clay and leave shades of gray, brown, black, and even reds, greens or blues if you add colorants.

Well, my first two "test" firings came out terrific, considering it's my first try. But then the "real" one I wanted to do failed...twice. I'm not sure if there was two much air, or what went wrong. I'm using a popcorn tin as I don't have much to fire, and the size is perfect. But I punched holes into the sides, and the seam busted open, leaving a gap. The first time I fired it I used duct tape to keep it together. But this slowly melted and the gap popped open.

So I used a smaller tin this time around, and burnt my ocarinas (what I happened to be firng) instead. Some even had a few melt marks on them...

So after 3 days of trying to get a good firing, I have slightly burnt "pots." I know this is all part of the process of learning, but I also want to make these ocarinas the best I can in the hopes of selling them. It takes hours to make a good ocarina (all practice, I know), and I don't have the time to make them just to let them sit around here all day.

So in order to make myself feel better, I ordered two books today - one on smoke firing, and the other on coloring clay. I am extrememly interested in inlays and other coloring techniques, and even the lady who owns the "local" ceramics supply store doesn't know many people who "marble their clay." Apparently she isn't aware of the tons of OTHER techniques out there that one MIGHT persue besides marbling (which I hadn't even considered as I don't throw pots, yet.)

Anwyay, I'm taking a break tomorrow. But I need to do a glaze firing at the end of this week, so hopefully that turns out okay. And then it will be back to making more ocarinas, and hopefully some stuff for my kids (like ornaments and piggy banks.)