I hand build most of my work from slabs of clay. I have been experimenting with using multiple layers of contrasting slip on the wet slab, making marks through the layers at each stage with my hand or different tools, sometimes even a broom, and also scraping through the slip to show the clay body underneath. I am excited by this process that creates a dynamic surface that reminds me of printmaking.
My work is either fired in my electric kiln to 1820 degrees Fahrenheit in oxidation or I fire with a number of people in a wood burning kiln to about 2300 degrees Farenheit. As you can imagine these two processes are very different.
This is the clay that I make for the work I fire in my electric kiln. It is made of a number of different dry clays. I weigh them out and mix in a slurry before drying out in plaster bins. It has a toasty brown color when fired. I love the patterns that are formed when the clay is being wedged.
The Slab has been covered with black slip, scratched with a broom, and dried wheat grass has been rolled into the clay.
After rolling the wheat into the clay, a white slip is brushed over it on the clay. A broom is used to create more scratching texture in the white slip.
The wheat is removed from the clay to reveal the bare clay underneath. At this point the clay will be rolled thinner, flattening out the textures and compressing the clay and then it will be ready to be used.
This slab was first covered in a black slip and scratched through with a broom. Then a white slip was trailed back and forth in a circular motion and dripped on. After that a reddish/brown slip was applied in drips. This slab will be rolled thinner and then it will be ready for building.
My work is fired twice. The first firing is a bisque firing in my electric kiln to cone 06 (about 1828 degrees Fahrenheit). The glaze firing in my electric kiln goes to cone 6 (about 2232 degrees Fahrenheit). When my work is wood fired it reaches about 2300 degrees Fahrenheit. As you can imagine the two glaze firings are very different! The electric kiln produces an oxidizing atmosphere while the wood kiln produces a reducing atmosphere as the wood burns. I use different clays for each type of firing.
May firing crew of the Salt/Soda Chamber of the wood kiln at Kevin Lehman’s Pottery in Lancaster.
Front Stack of the Salt/soda Chamber in the wood kiln at Kevin Lehman’s Pottery in Lancaster, PA
Cones Bending as the kiln gets hot!
It was a great firing!
The main chamber of the wood kiln at Kevin Lehman’s Pottery in Lancaster, PA
This is my Cone Art electric kiln set up in my garage. It is equipped with a computer that I can program to heat at different rates or hold the temperature depending on what stage in the firing it is at.
At the workshop with Catherine White, Wood-firing and the Expressive Hand at the Penland School of Craft.
Side-Fired Bottle
These are some close-up photographs taken of the surfaces of my work.
