Salt Firing fall '09

Thanks for this image, Grace.

The weekend salt firing was quick and sharp. Starting it at 7:00 pm Saturday and firing it off at 5:00 am Sunday reminded me of the firings we would do in Oklahoma during the summer. It would get so hot during the day we chose to fire through the night and finish at dawn to beat the heat.

The insulating fire brick (seen in the image) take a beating. We have been able to coat them on the inside (hot face) to keep them from deteriorating too rapidly. The spy holes are another story. Looks like a good spot for castable repair.

The anagama is still cooling some 3 days after...

Have been reading the latest edition of the Log Book . We knew Jack's article was going to be in it. I still find it hard to believe he lost interest in salt firing. The traditional approach to salt can be somewhat one dimensional, true, but vapor has so many variations from ∆ 03 up. It is so versatile. I have fired terra cotta at ∆ 03-3 with great results. In fact, I was looking for a similar surface to the Voulkos' platters while in grad school that lead me to experiment with low temperature vapor back then. Soldner used vapor in raku in the 1970's. There is so much to try. And Jack's excitement when holding pieces from our collection certainly gave you the sense he was still smitten. But as artists, we have to follow our gut as well as our head.

Speaking of raku- it too has endless possibilities if you get beyond the tired stuff of the past 2 decades. Going to commercial glazes is too easy. The "flash" factor is still alive and well unfortunately. Try using darker bodies and spraying on frits and clays and borax and lithium and ochre and on and on...

We are knee deep in a baroque fashion in American ceramics. Nothing wrong with that I suppose, but the band wagon is wide and deep. Always has been. I was a product of abstract expressionism (the last great dominant movement, I think- the post, post, post, modernist era is still up in the air, due to the need to label such movements immediately, sucking the oxygen out of the air) and the far eastern aesthetic which some today may find tired and lacking. But the subtle is permanent, flash is temporary.