6-a sultry second time
Having been so overwhelmed and drooling somewhat with the first two test vases - I was greedy to go all in, head first into the fire to experience more.
I spent most of my time adhering and wrapping organics and metals around six more vases. I was very interested in the effects the ‘soapy’ steel wool left on both of the first two test vases - oranges and pale pinks - although subtle in one, it gained this effect just resting against the surface in the saggar - this time it tightly embraces their forms - wrapped with alpaca wool.
The copper wire is also wrapped tightly around the belly of all six vases - in about the same place on all of them, with the ends bought up and tied around the long necked vases.
I made a old fashioned school glue / paste out of flour and water and painted this on cotton sheet strips and then sprinkled cobalt carbonate and copper carbonate onto this with the intention of making this ‘stick’ to the surface - I wanted to see if a non diluted oxide would have a stronger effect.
All six test vases were put in my double saggar of foil and flower pots - sitting on a bed of sugar cane mulch and pine wood shavings and then enveloped by my pot pouri of dried hybiscus, wattle leaves, fig leaves, pine needles from the Christmas tree which is waiting for me to breakdown for mulch and other dry general trimmings from my garden.
My kiln was full with six saggars. I figured the saggars themselves might hold a bit of heat and for longer this time - so I decided to take temperature a bit lower than the first test - up to 720 degrees C.
Then we fired - for six hours. I then turned the kiln off and waited, overnight, until the next warm morning when the sun was peeping over the hills with a gorgeous red hue to the sky. I took out the flowerpots, one by one, and like the first test, the foil had started to disintegrate, but still ‘intact’. My kiln shelves were completely clean and there was not any evidence of soot, ash or debris anywhere in the kiln.
As the foil flaked away, I lifted out, one by one, the most beautiful things I have ever made - even straight out of the saggars, without being cleaned you could see the colours and stains - almost irridescent.
Straight out of their saggars - unwashed and raw.
As I washed them, I held them up to the morning sun - the colours are just amazing …
and then to the polishing, the finishing touches with bee wax furniture polish … before presenting themselves for their photo shoot - a group shot of both tests below ….
a saggar affair
You can see all of the results in detail in my portfolio on this website in ‘little bits of smoke and fire’.
Test three will be fired very soon - where we start to explore different clays and positions in the saggar - terracottas and mixed earthenwares and swapping organics and combustables …. focussing on local and native flowers and plants.
It will truely be a pottery swingers delight!