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| Decorating another large vase for wood firing |
I've got an upcoming show in Pensacola Florida the first weekend in November. The Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival is held Nov. 1,2,3. I'm firing the wood kiln next weekend, and I've been busy drawing trees and vines on five large vases I made last week.
These vases are somewhere around 20 inches high. The trees are the most labor intensive. I work for several hours on these. I'll be placing these in the wood kiln and firing in such a way as to maximize what we call flashing, and minimizing ash buildup.
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| Closeup of flashing on a pot |
Flashing is where subtle coloring occurs on the surface of a pot due to the interaction of the clay surface with the volatile compounds of the flame. Too much ash buildup obliterates the color.
Placement of the pieces in the kiln is important, as well as how the kiln is fired. Placing a pot behind another pot protects it from too much ash buildup. If I decorate a piece with trees surrounding the entire pot, I will try to protect that pot from ash. If I decorate a piece only partially with trees, I can arrange the pot in the kiln such that the decoration is facing the back of the kiln so that the design isn't blasted by the flame and ash.
The picture below shows placement of pots in the front of the kiln. Top shelf for some reason doesn't get a lot of ash buildup in the very front of the kiln. Pots on shelves below it get a lot of ash, so the tree designs are facing the back of the kiln. The large pot at the top has three other large pots directly behind it, somewhat protected from the ash.
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Front shelf
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| Ash buldup can be seen on left |
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| Three vases ready for firing |
