Into The Actual Fire

Pit fired pieces are made with a white porcelain-stoneware blend. The pieces are tucked into individual pouches of aluminum with various combustibles, mostly from the chickens: pine shavings with all kinds of droppings, poo, feathers, grain and seeds, eggs shells, and dried leaves and vines from the garden and some steel wool for good measure. They are fired in an above ground pit, stoked to around 1500°F, then deprived of oxygen and left to smoke and cool overnight. The effects are a result of letting go and letting the elements do what they will. You’ll see swirls, wisps, and clouds of smokey blacks and grays laid over the white clay, with some darker impressions where high density matter has combusted, and occasional smatterings of rusty oranges and even pinks sometimes where metals interact.  But because it’s me…mostly black and grays.