Backyard pottery pit fire today...
So I made a few pieces which I call 'draped live-edge' bowls which are nothing more than a rolled slab draped over a bowl leaving the cracks and uneven surfaces around the rim to imitate the look of a 'live-edge' piece of lumber.
Started a fire this morning in a newly-fashioned 'pit' this morning and threw the pieces in with a mixture of steel wool strands, rock salt and wrapped in newspaper with salt soaked jute twine.
This is the first time I've attempted this, so I'm looking forward to the results...
They've been in for a few hours now, I just checked on them; nothing broken (yet). I was wary as I did not bisque-fire the pieces, just threw them in in a greenware state. :fingers crossed:
I'll post my results later this evening.
Anyone else experimenting today...?
= new reply since forum marked as read
would love to see pictures of the results 
The Female Potters, not so much. Electric kilns are where its at for them 
Glazes and Clays and Technique discussions are Topics of Dinner Conversations.
Kiln openings can be a Big Deal.
A few things:
-I would have preferred to allow these to come down to temperature in the pit, however a snow squall line is moving in and I wanted to get these into the house prior.
-I should have used a different clay body, something with more thermal shock value to it; however this is what I had on hand.
-Next time, I will make the pieces slightly thicker.
-I should have covered the pit sooner.
HOWEVER, I am pleased with the results; I enjoyed it, therefore I'm not willing to give up on this just yet...
At any rate; here they are:
<<---- self!
those came out really cool - so you fired them up with the stuff inside of them? Have you tried horse hair?
I have a tangential interest in pottery through my German travel friend. the strongest affiliation/experiences for me have been in the Mata Ortiz/Casas Grandes "revival" from Chihuahua. We have even played around with gathering local clay here on the ranch and doing a couple of dung firings.
She teaches and does hand built animal sculptures at home but has traveled and explored lots of other techniques. She recently built a mud kiln in her yard.
Today would be such a shitty day for outdoor firing, ugh the wind is awful - so bad I am considering going grocery shopping on a Friday just to escape it for a while (this house is a sieve on windy days and bad enough when not windy but cold)
one of our friends from Mata Ortiz, Julio Mora - painting
