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WOOD-FIRE

TEAPOTS * SHARD POTS * MINI POTS

Before gas and electric kilns, pots were fired with wood as the fuel.  There is a resurgence of the process of wood-firing and the appreciation of these unique pots.  I fire at Hiroshi Ogawa's Hikarigama in Elkton, OR.

I only glaze the inside of my wood-fired pots.  Wood-ash flying through the kiln rests on shoulders and other protruding parts of the pots.   Various clay bodies react differently to the wood-ash, resulting in many different finished colors on these pots.

ORDERING:   If you are interested in purchasing any of these pieces from me, please email me susanroden@susanroden.com and I can send you photos of pieces I have in stock for your selection.

This series of "Armed Goddess" vases was fired in the noborigama section of Hikarigama.  This kiln is fueled with wood and finished with salt.  The salt vaporizes and leaves a transparent sheen on every piece in the kiln.  Each of these goddesses is made of a different clay body, and is glazed on the inside differently from the others.

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TEAPOTS

These pots were made with 2 colors of clay:  porcelain & dark stoneware.  They were fired in the Noborigama section of the kiln and finished with soda, which gives a glossy sheen to the unglazed piece.

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RECYCLED SHARD POTS

I have been experimenting with this technique.  It involves shards - broken pieces of clay - from a previously wood/salt fired piece that are selected by their shape and the edges smoothed.  The shards are arranged on a slab of textured paper clay.  Then the clay is cut into pieces and assembled. These pots were also fired in the Noborigama kiln.

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MINI POTS

These pots are all made with porcelain.  They range from 2.5" to 3.5" tall. 
I am amazed at the variety of colors the clay can turn, just from its placement in the kiln.

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