My pots and ceramic sculptures begin with a daydream and are realized through the clay, my hands, the glaze, and the firing. Each makes its contribution to the pot. Of these five dimensions, the firing technique is the easiest to explain, and certainly the most dramatic.
I use three different types of kilns to fire my pieces – electric, wood, and sagar.
I glaze fire in an electric kiln to Cone 6 or 2232 degrees Fahrenheit. Firing time is about 12 hours. Electric kilns allow for precise control of firing temperatures and relatively predictable results. Still, it is always exciting to open the kiln and see the final pot.
Sagar firing is done in an outside gas kiln over a relatively short 3 hour period. Pots are burnished with stones until very smooth and then placed in large ceramic containers called sagars filled with varying types of material, such as sawdust, seaweed, wood shavings, steel wool, copper carbonate. When these materials heat up, the carbon and metals vapors are deposited on the pot surfaces resulting in intriguing designs. Firing temperature is lower than for electric kilns, about 1600 degrees Fahrenheit.
My favorite firing environment is a large wood fired kiln in rural Vermont built and operated by my friends Nathan and Becca Webb (see Two Potters: https://www.twopotters.com/). The kiln is generally fired twice a year with up to 1500 pots. My work is a small portion of the overall kiln load. The firing is long and hot, taking up to 90 hours reaching Cone 10 or 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit. It takes a team of helpers and over 7 cords of wood. Wood kilns result in unique glazed surfaces as the wood ashes are fused to the pots. Each section of the kiln is a unique environment for temperature and ash, leading to beautiful glaze variations.
