On Monday, May 13th at approximately 8:30 AM I began to set up the fire pit at Alki Beach for a pit firing. The pit firing was to coincide with my 42nd birthday. I often like to celebrate my day of birth with an art event of some sort and I was eager to introduce some of my students to the process of primitive firing.
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| The fire pit at Alki Beach looking North. Filled with sand, these iron hexagonal pits are first come --first serve at the beach. |
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| Box of pre-bisqued pots for the fire. I fired them in an electric kiln at cone 018, to keep them from exploding. |
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| Dry wood is essential for having a great fire, you want the coals to develop so the fire gets hot enough to leave various colors |
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| Dried moss, sea weed, driftwood bits, saw dust and kelp also enrich the color spectrum. |
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| For reds and yellows we sprinkled some copper oxides and sea salt onto the pots |
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| At Alki there is an abundance of dried seaweed, which I used to line the bottom of the pit. I also layered the seaweed and driftwood bits between and on top of the pottery. |
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| I used some butcher paper scraps to help ignite the fire. I also brought some wood chips leftover from my carving projects and some thick fennel stalks from the garden. |
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| I start off with lots of smaller sticks stacked in a tee-pee style, then I ignite. |
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| The fire burns and larger boughs are added. When there is a bed of coals, the pots are possibly ready. |
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| Pots that have their bodies exposed to the open air tend to come out lighter, while ones that are buried in burning debris often come out blackened. |
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| Here is a terra cotta coaster of an owl. I used white terra sigillata for the accents |
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| An owl vase and a primitive skull |
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| Many of the were made with found and recycled earthenware. I used clay from Beacon Hill and Ellensburg both as slip applications and as a sculpting body. |
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| On the way home from the firing I was elated. I was looking forward to rinsing the pots in the sink, but sadly things took a turn for the worst. |
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| The entire box of work slammed into the dashboard on impact, crushing or chipping about 40% of the work |
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| Shattered plate: Kittitas earthenware with various slips |
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| Floater: Beacon hill earthenware with Terra Sigillata and kittitas slip |
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| Top: Bull Plate Terra Cotta mic with Terra Sigillata and terra cotta slip,Below: Owl Coaster Terra Cotta/Terra Sig, Moon Platter Beacon Hill Earthenware with various slips |
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More damaged work
Easy come easy go, luckily the guy had insurance. Since a bunch of the pieces are ruined I'll just have to make more. After all the potter's motto is:
Make Another One! |
Special thanks to Elaine Haegele and Ted Johnson for their participation. I couldn't have done it without their help and enthusiasm.
