pit fire pottery

All these pieces have been bisque fired to cone 018 prior to firing and were made using a high grog stoneware.

[@bonsaiartist2525]

Here are some examples of the results of the pit fire. imgur.com/a/BEwNkcB

[@lizcraft17]

Finally! A video explaining how you made this and what you did step by step. Thank you!

[@coopart1]

Thanks for sharing YOUR process! Hoping to do some primitive firing soon myself.

[@RaraAvis1138]

This just answered many questions i had, so, thank you very much! And saved me bunches of money😁

[@wendydee3007]

Good video thanks. I'd like to make pieces with a lighter colour finish, how would I do this? Could I wrap the pots with foil, or use some kind of glaze first?

[@bonsaiartist2525]

You can control how much or how little the pots are in contact with the combustible material by putting them inside of a foil sagar, yes. All you’d need to do is place your preferred amount of sawdust inside the sagar, wrap it nice and tight, and pitfire it as normal. Though, glaze does not work for this firing method, as the temperate reached in a pit fire is not nearly hot enough to melt the glaze. Instead, people used burnishing techniques to create a less porous surface that would be more suitable for food and drink.

[@anusubramanian9607]

Nice work!

[@joncrute4453]

Aah good lad . keep going!!!

[@savageerrol]

Right On!

[@sziluchannel]

Did you fire those pots before this? And did you add anything onto these before firing?

[@bonsaiartist2525]

Szilu Channel, These pots have been fired to cone 018 before this particular firing. Though, I have fired raw clay in a similar setup previously. Most of these pots were only burnished with no additional coatings on the surface prior to firing. Though, I do add Tera sig to burnish my work sometimes. Since this was for a middle school art class’ ceramics project, I kept it simple.

[@nevarezfabiola6]

@@bonsaiartist2525 Stephen can u show us how to fire green ware with a barrel please

[@bonsaiartist2525]

@@nevarezfabiola6 sure, I’ve been wanting to put together a tutorial on that for a while. It’ll have to wait until summer though. We are currently buried in snow.

[@nevarezfabiola6]

@@bonsaiartist2525 that would be great, I am planning on firing next weekend wish me luck

[@michaelmartin6040]

Great video but great shame we didn’t get to see the finished products!

[@bonsaiartist2525]

Here is a Imgur link to some of the results. imgur.com/a/BEwNkcB

[@Briaaanz]

I was thinking of making a carbon foam to insulate the can and instead the temperature of the kiln. Do you have any holes in the bottom of your can for airflow?

[@bonsaiartist2525]

Never heard of carbon foam, but I suppose it could work. For my other handmade kilns, I use ceramic fiberglass blankets to insulate them. Yes, I do have several smallish holes drilled into the bottom to allow for airflow.

[@Briaaanz]

@@bonsaiartist2525 kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6K1ZZKLpKd8sLs

[@Briaaanz]

@@bonsaiartist2525 kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6K1ZZKLpKd8sLs

[@bonsaiartist2525]

@@Briaaanz quite interesting! I’d recommend going with a small scale experiment to see how well it insulates. I’d personally try making a soup can forge. My only worry would be that the foam would become too brittle and crumble apart after a few uses.

[@Briaaanz]

@@bonsaiartist2525 he addressed this in one of his videos, along with a better recipe (flour, cornstarch, baking soda, water)... He used a large can and created a forge with a propane torch. The recipe is cheap and easily replaced after a few uses

[@elizabethwatson71]

Can you help. I have no idea what I can use to accomplish the job st hand I’m expected to pull out a piece that is a mid size in either a red, blue, black or plum can I put a single work in the kiln so what do I use to fascillitate the colors I want and if this can be set inside my eleaeric kiln. What else can be added to the fire

[@bonsaiartist2525]

Hi there! Yes, you can achieve a bunch of different colors with the pit fire technique, it just has a lot of do with the additives. I recommend looking into sagger firing, as this will likely give you what you are looking for. In a nutshell, you take the piece and wrap it with different types of combustible materials and then wrap it all up in something to keep it all together. Some people use tin cans, aluminum foil, or even sacrificial clay envelopes. You can put them in an electric kiln too, just be careful as the sagger technique produces a lot of fumes and smoke that aren’t great for indoor studios.

[@elizabethwatson71]

@@bonsaiartist2525 thank you so very much

[@drakekoefoed1642]

you have a lot of leaves you aren't using.

[@carryonmalarking]

Hiya how many holes did you drill in the bin?

[@bonsaiartist2525]

Quite a few. I’d say at least one every 4 inches or so. Not really an exact science to it, just enough to allow air to flow into the kiln from below. This encourages the cinders to burn down the whole kiln, rather than just smoldering at the top.

[@markspc1]

Nice and simple kiln. However you do need some improvement on your videoing skills, maybe a tripod will help ! I got motion sick and a head ache watching your video. Anyway why did all of your pots came out so black ?

[@bonsaiartist2525]

The pots came out black due to the kiln creating a reduction atmosphere rich with carbon. Essentially, the flame consumed the available oxygen in the kiln, creating a minor vacuum. Which caused the porous clay to suck in the soot from the flames as it search’s for the last little bit of oxygen in between the clay particles.

[@nowirehangers2815]

@@bonsaiartist2525 no way to glaze like this? I want to get into pottery but zero chance of me ever getting a kiln where i live

[@bonsaiartist2525]

No Wire Hangers Sadly no, there really isn’t a way to glaze pottery with this technique. It just doesn’t get hot enough. Though, prior to the creation of glaze, people used different finishing techniques to make pottery usable. Most of them revolved around a technique called “burnishing”. It is a rather tedious technique, but might be what you are looking for.

[@nowirehangers2815]

@@bonsaiartist2525 thank you so much for actually replying. I will look into it.

[@lizcraft17]

Did you fire bisque pottery?

[@bonsaiartist2525]

Yes, the pottery in this video was bisque fired prior to pit firing. Though, I have fired raw green ware this way before. It just tends to have a much higher likelihood of breaking during the firing.

[@No.oneishere596]

Is it food safe?

[@bonsaiartist2525]

Unfortunately no, I would not consider these food safe. In order for pottery to be food safe, it needs to be non-porous. This is usually achieved through glazing or firing the pottery until fully vitrified. These pots have only been fired to a low temperature, leaving the clay porous. The most I would use them for is maybe a candy bowl.

[@No.oneishere596]

@@bonsaiartist2525 oh , thank you 🙏

[@gerdastolze2842]

SCHADE das ich kein Englisch beherrsche.