Moldeo De La Cera Perdida

Pit Firing
in North Carolina

Raku Pit Barrel

by Dan and Linda Riggs

I

t was probably soon after the
discovery of fire when early humans realized that heated clay
became harder, moredurable. The
fact that clay could be imprinted
with shapes and colors applied was
an aesthetic plus. Today, the ancient
technique of pit firing is becoming increasingly popular because of
thoseaesthetic pleasures, although
the shapes and surfaces of the pots
reveal the modern touch of artistic
form, as well as the calculated use of
chemicals and just the right amount
of sawdust and wood.Edge Barnes and Zoie Holtzknecht, two potters from the RaleighDurham-Chapel Hill area of North
Carolina, are among those who experiment with pit-firing techniques.
Although they come from verydifferent backgrounds, they share a passion for surface markings achieved
by placing their bisque-fired pots,
along with various chemicals and
organic materials, in a sawdust- and
wood-filled pit.
Barnesgenerally likes to burnish
his leather-hard pots with a stone.
This is followed by buffing with

plastic or a soft cloth to increase
the shine. Holtzknecht, on the other
hand, likes a rougherfinish and focuses more on developing color on
the surfaces of her pots. Flashes of
color on pit-fired ware are achieved
by intimate contact with volatile
materials, such as copper and salt.
Forexample, Barnes often wraps
part of a Chore Boy copper scrub pad
around a pot, holding the stretched
wire in place with hot glue from a
gun. The copper wire can also be covered with slabs of paper clay,which
act like a saggar, trapping the vaporizing copper next to the surface.
A more conventional technique
involves the addition of copper sulfate to a saggar. Barnes uses a metal
bowl for thesaggar, adds copper sulfate, then the copper-wire-wrapped
pots, peanut shells, cotton balls and
rock salt, covering the arrangement
with an inverted ceramic bowl.

Ovoid vase, 8 inches
in...