Saturday was part two of the Soda kiln firing workshop at Lillstreet Art Center! I do not think I can ever go back to regular kiln firing after seeing what adding just a bit of baking soda (and some other stuff) can do. The first thing we did was un-brick the "door". I put the door in quotes because the door to the kiln was literally just stacked bricks filling the open space. With each brick we took away, we saw more and more of the breathtaking ceramics. We were so excited and jumping up and down. Me getting excited and prancing around probably isn't too hard to imagine, but the two women with me were just as giddy! It was so fabulous. I'm pretty sure our teacher was getting a kick out of it too. We were all beside ourselves. The kiln was filled with many other people's pieces, not just ours from the workshop so part of the fun was seeing how everyone's work was effected. The pattern made by the baking soda mixture was quite evident when we looked at all the pieces together. Each piece we removed was just as gorgeous as the last and the super amazing thing, that I mentioned before, is that all the colors and patterns are due to total chance!
I am very happy with the results from this workshop. Each piece is so different, but it totally works. Here are some pictures...
This is my favorite piece.
The inside.
The Kiln!
All of my finished pieces (glazed by me: thrown by Eric Tschetter of Lillstreet)
These look amazing! The soda firing technique seems really effective and I love the idea of embracing the chaotic elements for aesthetic effect.
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