PROCESS

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PROCESS

MAKING POTS: I hand-build or 'throw' clay on a potters wheel.

CLAY: I like porcelain for functional serving and kitchenware. Stoneware is used for raku-fired ware and larger pieces. I have dug clay in the creek near my house. By mixing my local dug clay with commercial clay, I found I can use it for many items. I'm still experimenting, but like it for planters and garden art.

GLAZE: I mix my glazes from scratch. Which means I keep many raw materials in the studio and mix up glazes from a collection of recipes. Sometimes I 'invent' a recipe, sometimes I follow the recipe, and sometimes I alter a recipe to change the color or feel. There is much trial and error, and I am always testing recipes and combinations.

Glaze is usually applied by dipping the ceramic piece in a bucket of liquid, raw glaze. Larger pieces have their glaze sprayed on. I spray all my raku glazes on those pieces.

FIRING: After forming, the clay pieces are allowed to completely dry. Then they are 'biscuit-fired' to approximately 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. In this process the clay undergoes an irreversible chemical and physical change, but is still quite porous.

The final glaze firing is determined by the desired finished product.

Raku firing is relatively quick - as short as 30 minutes in a preheated kiln. I like to start my raku kiln early in the morning, and many firings are done in a day. One to five pieces can be fired at a time.

My high-fire kiln holds about 20 cubic feet of pots, and fires in approximately 12 hours to at least 2300 degrees Fahrenheit. It then cools for over 24 hours. By controlling the amount of oxygen in the kiln, various chemicals in the glaze will turn different colors. This is called 'reduction' firing, because the oxygen intake is reduced. In reduction firing, copper glazes can turn red, rutile and iron glazes can turn blue.

This photo is my high-fire kiln after a glaze firing.

Certain colors turn out better in a specific part of the kiln.
For example: the bottom shelf fires a touch cooler, so I have glazes that are used just on the bottom shelf.

Wood-fueled kilns tend to be large to justify the time and energy needed to fire to desired temperatures.