I've been working this week on some sculptures that I intended to smoke fire, so I figured I'd show you what exactly goes into a smoke firing that makes it so special...
The first step after creating the piece is to burnish it. There are many different ways to do this, but I use a smooth rock that I found in the local creek, and burnish the clay just before it is dry, but after it is leatherhard. Here is an example of a burnished piece compared to a yet-to-be burnished piece. You can see the visible shine and smoothness of the piece on the left:
After they are fired to a low bisque temperature (cone 010 because it's what the pottery supply store had on hand in cones), I take them outdoors for the REAL fun!This time I decided to try my new trash can which I've punched holes into. Usually I use old popcorn or Christmas tins that are much smaller, but since I have five items and I DID take the time to punch all the holes in the trash can, I'll try something new.
In this case I've taken straw, salt, baking soda, coffee grounds, and miracle grow (hopefully for color) and placed it in the bottom of the can, then the pieces I'll be firing, and then more straw with colorants. Then I light it on fire, and shortly thereafter I smother it.
.
It smokes for a while, but not very long. I need to learn how to get better results in color by letting it burn longer, but I never seen to be able to control what the fire does or how much it colors the pieces.
After it cools down, I remove the lid, and there are my pieces! Already you can see the variants of color the smoke has left.
After I scrub the ashes and char off the sculptures, I lightly buff them with some bee's wax/olive oil mix, to help bring out the color a bit more.
This type of firing method is very similar to how the ancients fired their pots and art, and I hope to keep experimenting with it!
No comments:
Post a Comment