My journey with ceramics began when my youngest child started first grade. What started out as a hobby gradually grew into a passion that has only intensified over the years. Despite a side trip into casting bronzes, or perhaps because of the experience of pouting molten bronze into ceramic molds I fell in love with the alchemy of alternative firings. There is a kind of magic to the process of pulling red hot pots out of the kiln and plunging them into a bucket with combustibles to smoke them. And then pulling them out a few minutes later to spray the surface with water so that the slip resist comes off to create a surprising end result that never fails to delight me. And then there is the art of applying horsehair, feathers and other organic material to a pot heated to 1100 degrees to leave a carbon imprint which captures the ephemeral beauty of these objects. These are but a few of the processes I employ to make my unique and one of a kind pots.

Horsehair pottery

Horse hair pottery is created using a unique firing process. No two pots are ever exactly alike. Each hand made piece is burnished multiple times at different stages of dryness, and when bone dry they are burnished again, and a thin sheen of vegetable oil is applied before the final burnishing leaving a high gloss on the surface. The piece is then bisque fired followed by a second firing to 1100 degrees. Once they reach temperature the incandescent pots are immediately pulled from the kiln and horse hair, feathers or other organic materials are placed upon the surface.  These items ignite, leaving their carbon imprint on the surface of the pot.  Finally, a buffing with wax enhances the luminous glow of the vessel.

Naked Raku

Naked Raku is a multi-stage process. After throwing pots on the wheel they are sanded to  a perfectly smooth surface before being burnished multiple times to a soft  sheen.  After the bisque firing I apply a masque  and sacrificial sliip and glaze  and refire them to around 1400 degrees.  Once I see the glaze had taken on an orange peel surface I remove the pots from the kiln and plunge them into a reduction chamber with combustible material to smoke  for 10 minutes.  Smoke will enter into voids where  they were masqued and the glaze  cracked to create dramatic patterning.  While pots are still very hot I pull them from the chamber and spray them with water to help release the saacrificial slip/glaze layer.  The final step is to completely remove the residual slip/glaze by scraping with a credit card and scrubbing to get the surface back to the original sheen and then they are given a final coating of non yellowing wax and buffed to help protect the surface.