Fire!

There's been plenty of it for me this week. Tuesday was the big barrel firing day for Elaine and me. We only planned on firing in one barrel but ended up in three. A Papa barrel, a Mama barrel and a Baby barrel.



Papa barrel (left) was a donation to Clayworks. This was indeed the Big Daddy barrel, built for smoking pottery and featuring all the options (shelves, air vents, etc.) Elaine and I called him "Bentley". The barrel on the right was one Elaine procured through a friend. "Model T" came with quite a history, as its rusty exterior proclaimed. No telling what was burned in this baby previously, but we figured it would suit our purposes perfectly. And that little guy in the middle is one of the cans we use for raku reduction at Clayworks. I dubbed him "Go Cart" because of his size and the speed at which we figured he'd fire.

The day before, we prepared our pots. As this was our first barrel firing, we decided anything goes. Some pieces were prepped with Elaine's terra sig. A few were naked clay. Most pots were bisqued at cone 010. A couple of mine were cone 06. Banana peels, dried flowers, seaweed, copper wire and scrubbers, dried cat food, oxide-soaked twines, eggshells, and just about everything else were incorporated in the prep. We carefully gift-wrapped them all.





It was unseasonably warm when we fired. Actually, it was unseasonably, brutally hot. But Elaine & I persevered (we weren't firing a wood kiln after all. But after Tuesday I'd bet we have what it takes to do that too.) We fueled our barrels with cedar shavings, poplar & oak sawdust and Shelby Gold.



Cow pies were the coin of the realm for our day. Thanks to Ron for collecting these beauties. (The snake skin you found may show up in a future endeavor, Ron. Plans are already afoot!!!)



As predicted, Go Cart finished first. Here, one of Elaine's lyrically fluid pinch pots and one of my birdlings peek through the ashes.



I wasn't sure how a bare porcelain piece bisqued at cone 06 would fare in a barrel firing. But I was quite taken with the way she turned out.

A little wax should make her gleam. She may not have the silken luster of her sister bird (sporting terra sig and fired in "Model T") but I love her smoky mottling. The blackbird's "nest" was a gift from Elaine. Part of a piece that didn't behave as she'd hoped in a previous firing, it was a perfect fit for what came from Tuesday's efforts.



Many beautiful pieces emerged later in the day. Some of Elaine's work was breathtaking. I can safely say that this may have been our first barrel firing but it won't be our last.