Smoke Firing

Internet search terms: Smoke firing/ pit firing/sawdust firing.

Books on the shelf for reference: Sawdust Firing by Krin Hessenberg

      Painting with smoke, David Roberts

                Naked Clay, Jane Perryman

Process:

You don’t have to burnish work but the pieces above have been rubbed smooth with fingers, round stones, the back of spoons, aprons and chamois leathers to produce a surface shine before the bisque firing.

Terra Sigillata can also be used  (thin particles of slip) for pieces with hard to reach curves.

It is then fired to 800 degrees.

After first firing, you can wrap it in wire, organic materials, string etc and put it in a parcel of sawdust (sometimes with oxides added) and we put it in a bin of sawdust and set fire to it.

The marks are from the smoke (carbon) and the resists (string, copper wire etc).

When cooled, wash and wax to bring out the shine.

The carbon penetrates all of the clay but the burnishing is surface only and will chip off if put down repeatedly on a hard surface.

It is purely decorative, still porous, not food safe.

Smoke firing ritual (optional)

Let go of something you need to let go of

Say thank you for something in the present

Tell the fire a wish for the future.