There are lots of different ways to fire ceramic pieces and during Mayterm I decided to document the process of the ones we did: bisque firing, pit firing, raku firing, and gas reduction firing.
Bisquing is when bone dry greenware (unfired clay) is fired in an electric kiln to about cone 08, which is very low. Pieces go into the kiln grey and brittle and they come out pinkish and hard. This firing stabilizes the piece while leaving it porous which helps in the glazing process when you want the piece to absorb the water from the glaze so that the other elements can stick to the surface.
Pit firing is a low fire method that does not use glaze and thus leaves the pieces not waterproof and looking slightly unfinished. Pieces are placed in a pit over some combustibles like wood. The pieces we tried to use were bisqued to prevent exploded since the sudden heat shocks the pieces. If greenware pieces were used they were first preheated by placing dry leaves around it and lighting them, then when the piece was warm it was placed into the pit with the other pieces. The preheating didn't always work and most greenware pieces exploded, sometimes damaging other pots in the process. After the pieces were put into the pit, they were covered with more combustibles. Fruit rinds, metals, and watered down colorants were placed on the pots as well to produce different effects on the surface of the pots. We set the pit ablaze and let it cool. That same day we were able to pull the pieces out, finished.
Raku Firing:
Raku is another low firing that gives you same day results and is a lot of fun. Bisqued pieces are glazed with Raku glazes and placed into a special kiln that can be opened quickly and easily. The kiln is heated until the glaze is molten which is seen through a spy hole in the side of the kiln. The firing only takes an hour or two depending on how fast the kiln is heated. Once the glaze is molten the fun happens but very quickly. The kiln is opened as the outside of the kiln is rigged to a pully system where it can be pulled up easily and left hanging out of the way. The pieces start to cool very quickly so you need to remove the pieces with long tongs and drop them into waiting trash cans. The cans are lined with clean sawdust. The pieces go in without touching each other. More sawdust is thrown onto the pieces and the cans are closed.
One night we did a special night firing since the glowing pieces look so much cooler in the dark. These pictures were taken by one of the students, Keith Holbien (thanks Keith).
Once again we use the bisqued pieces and glaze them in cone 10 glazes. These glazes are composed so they can hold up to the high temperatures the kiln will reach. The kiln is huge so it takes a lot of pieces to fill it up properly. Loading it in means you need to use space most effectively while still account for an even pressure and flow in the kiln once it's firing. Pieces also need to be positioned so that they are not touching or else they will fuse and be ruined. The kiln is slowly brought up to temperature and once the kiln reaches cone 07 it is placed into a body reduction which means you change the atmosphere in the kiln for a short period of time which effects certain colorants in the glazes. The temperature is checked by looking into the kiln (as seen above) and seeing a cone pack that is placed right in front on the spy holes. The cones are made of components that will melt at certain temperatures. As the cones bend we are able to check the progression of the kiln. As cone 10 starts to bend the kiln is placed into reduction again. You can see the difference in the flames above. The green flame is oxidation flame that is seen after the first reduction and throughout the firing until the final reduction which is the bright orange flame. The kiln takes a few days to cool but then the pieces can be removed and all are food safe and water tight.
Living at the Baxter's house was amazing. Gary had built the house and had custom made almost everything in it. Handmade pottery was all over the house made by Gary and his son and some of his old students and other pieces that came from all over the world from all the places Gary traveled. It was like living in a gallery.
I loved living in that house and I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to. It makes me wish I was an architect and construction expert so that I could build my own house.
The night before graduation a few of us went to the boys' townhouse to learn how to make real Chinese dumplings. JD had lived for a while in China and Tim was from Taiwan and had lived in China as well. Tim mainly did the teaching. Some of the boys tried to cook but it was mainly just me, Justin, and Brandon that helped Tim. A lot more other people came to help us eat all the dumplings which was a good thing since we made a ridiculous amount. And just so you know, this was the first time I met Brandon but that is a different story entirely. The dumplings were delicious.
On the last night in the Cole House my friend Kristen stayed with me and we had a fun night
I got all my stuff packed and was amazed at how little it added up to: two suitcases, two large cardboard boxes, two small cardboard boxes, my backpack and purse. Of course this did not include anything from the art building which probably would be double all this. So I ended up leaving some of this in the art building and took the rest to Castile where I moved in with my professor and his wife and one of the other TAs for Mayterm.
Since I was working as a TA for Mayterm and my payment for this would be lots and lots of clay I
At the end of the semester we had a wood firing at my professor's house. Wood firing is wonderful. The kiln is heated to cone 10 using just wood as a heat source. The wood has to be fed into the kiln every four minutes to keep the kiln hot and it takes about 24 hours to get to cone 10. The whole time the kiln is firing the wood is burning in a chamber that is connected to the main part of the kiln where the pieces are. The ash from the burning wood is allowed to pass from the wood burning chamber to the pieces. The ash causes the glazes to melt more and gives more rivulets in the glaze. The atmosphere is more of an oxidation firing without the gas from the other cone 10 firing we do so the colorants react differently. A little extra special addition to our wood firing is that my professor adds salt to the kiln while it's firing. The salt adheres to the pieces making everything more glossy including the bare clay.
Some interesting circumstances occurred during this particular firing. During the first firing something fell during the beginning of the firing and the kiln had to be stopped, cooled, opened, and fixed. We tried to re-fire the kiln but it never made it to cone 10, it got almost there but not quite. All the pieces turned out very matte and without the usual sheen that comes with the wood kiln.
Since it was the end of the semester, most people could not wait for another re-firing and since firing the wood kiln is so laborious we decided to see what would happen if we re-fired the wood kiln pieces in the gas kiln since we had to fire that kiln for Mayterm anyway. When we re-fired the pieces we found that salt was still fixed on surfaces and was able to re-melt when it made it to cone 10. The results were amazingly beautiful. If it wasn't such a hassle I would say the best results come from this double firing technique but maybe someday I can try getting these result without such a waste of time or resources.
I thought I would post all the things I still have for sale after the big sale I had last week. We also unloaded the wood firing but those pieces will be in another post (meaning I haven't photographed them yet)
pitchers:
vases:
casseroles:
blue bowl set:
other bowl sets:
small bowls:
porcelain cups:
plates (plus a few miscellaneous ones that don't have pictures):
big senior show vessels:
miscellaneous pieces:
Bob's mother, and 2 aunts were in town over the weekend (they live in the Carolinas). It was great to see them and to be able to spend time with them - but man, am I beat now. They came up for a luncheon that was honoring his grandmother (their mother) on Monday. They got in on Friday. We didn't see them Friday, but had to clean the house, etc so everything would look good when they came over. His grandmother didn't know they were going to be here, so on Saturday we went to pick up her like we usually do to take her to the bank, get groceries, whatever other errands she needs done and we always go to lunch. We had his mom & aunts meet us at the restaurant to suprise her. She was so happy to have 3 of her daughters here. After lunch we went back to her house for a while to visit some more then came home. On Sunday they all came over to our house we hung out for a few hours then went out to dinner. Bob and I both had to work Monday so we couldn't attend the luncheon. Bob met up with them after he got out of work to say good bye to his mom and didn't get home until 9 pm last night. Like I said, it was great to see everyone, but made for a very long weekend.
