Barrel Fire #4

'Twas a 12 hour day at Clayworks and I loved every minute of it! Though it started out with me forgetting to bring one of the single most important ingredients to the party. So Amy offered to drive me to the nearest hardware store to pick up more. (This was quite the contribution as gas is hard to come by these days in Charlotte.) But it had to be done.

No self-respecting barrel firing is complete without copper scrubbies. Twine is a good thing too, as Elaine illustrates.

As usual, it took us a while to prep our pieces. The vibe was good and expectations were high. We had lots of seaweed, some marsh grasses, shells, coral and a palmetto frond that we scavenged from Pawleys Island to add to the firing.
Here, it's all ready to go...

The usual pyro people (Minke, John, and Amy) were there. But this time, Max added one of his pieces to the barrel we fondly call "Model T".

Once the fire was lit, we enjoyed two delicious pineapple upside down cakes and tended to whatever projects needed tending to. Elaine & I mixed up 3 more glazes. Amy threw more pots. Max glazed and Minke sculpted. But we kept a watchful eye on what was happening inside "Model T." (*Note to Self - what's happening to the metal drum's exterior would be GREAT to recreate for cave art pieces. )


From time to time, cries would ring out - "There's a purple flame in the barrel!"..."Wow, look at that pink!"..."Blue! Look at the blue!" And the blue was the only one I managed to capture through the kiln shelf cover.

Some pieces are still cooking happily away in "Model T." But many were removed before we called it a night.

The musical notes on Elaine's pot (left, rear) were pretty spectacular. And the colours we got were amazing. I read somewhere that you can get peaches, aquas, pinks and sky blues from seaweed and seashells. That seems to be the case.

Many lessons were learned tonight. Some nice pieces were lost. But some fantastic things happened too. Such is the nature of barrel firing I guess. You can find more on BF#4 on Elaine's blog. And, of course, we'll be doing this again. Barrel Firing #5 takes place on Friday, October 31st. All Hallows Eve. Now THAT could be scary!