Jim Whalen Workshop Part 2

Today at Clayworks, we gathered for the second half of Jim Whalen's workshop. The students came prepared with hard burnished pieces and pots sporting the various terra sigilattas we'd made in the first workshop. It took two tables to hold them all.

Jim provided bag upon bag of various sawdusts and chemicals like copper sulfate and cobalt carbonate. He also brought a special slip for resist raku. Attendees brought various combustibles.

Sweet gum "gumballs" were a favourite for the saggars...

As was spanish moss (thanks Cinder) ....

And there were grasses and flowers of all descriptions.

I was so busy layering my own saggar I forgot to take pix of the process, but there were some real beauties prepared for the Clayworks gas kiln.

Once the saggars were loaded, we moved on to the barrel-firing portion of the workshop. Jim brought his own 55-gallon drum and we also used our very own, beloved Model T.

Here, Kim & Jim look on as the barrels burn. Someone began singing "Ring of Fire."

As if on cue, and not missing a beat, Elaine "flashed" the crowd.

A sawdust-only barrel firing doesn't take too long to reveal the wonders within.

While the barrels were firing, Jim showed us how he creates his resist raku pieces. That's what I loved MOST about this workshop --- experimenting with 3 different forms of firing --- all in one day!

It's always exciting when the raku kiln is opened. (And sometimes amateur photographers get caught in the act).

Once again, sawdust plays its part in the firing process. Jim's pot (covered in dried slip) went straight from the kiln into an already smoldering container of sawdust. From there it would go into a closed container for reduction.

Then, it was back to the barrels to see what treasures the ashes would reveal.

Here, a sampling of the barrels' bounty. Some lovely pieces!

I'm sorry I didn't get any photos of the raku resist pieces. Many were taken home for cleaning and I hope that we'll get a chance to see the finished pieces once the resist is removed and the pieces are waxed/finished. Tomorrow we unload the 12 saggars from the gas kiln and I can't wait to see how all those pieces turn out. Likely, they'll be the most colorful of the firings as we added lots and lots of botanicals and fuming agents to the saggar mix.

Look for pix from the saggars sometime tomorrow!