Pit Fire #2

With summer on its way, a pit firing was calling. For this firing, I decided to use bisque ware, while Kate chose a mix of greenware and bisque. Glaze was our main focus this past year, so we applied raku glaze to a few pieces to see what might happen. During my last pit firing, I used wired flowers to leave an imprint, and we decided to try that again. We decided to do a simple saggar with copper and sea salt.

To begin, with my father’s help, we dug the pit a bit deeper and wider in the hope that it would retain more heat. We placed the pots at the bottom, adding a layer of paper and wood. The fire was started and kept alive for about 3–4 hours before we covered the pit with metal.

The following evening, we opened it up. The embers were still surprisingly warm and alive. Some of the greenware hadn’t survived, and many pots remained in their aluminum foil. Opening them, we were disappointed — most of the pots’ surfaces were bare or barely marked. Kate’s pots did show a few imprints from the wired flowers, and our raku test piece turned blue! If we’d kept it firing a bit longer, we might have gotten even more satisfying glazes. We think the process itself may be what fell short, and we’re already looking forward to scheduling our next pit firing soon.