Saturday, Oct. 16th, was my first official art center workshop and it was great! There were only three people in the class so it was super personal and the teacher really knew his stuff. We had a little informational discussion before we started fiddling with our pieces about the way the firing works and how to load the kiln and things like that. The great thing about soda firing ceramics is the extreme chance factor. I guess I should explain a little bit about soda firing to begin with, eh? It is done in a gas firing kiln and towards the hottest point of the firing cycle, a mixture of sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, and wood chips is introduced to the atmosphere inside the kiln. The “cookie dough” like mixture turns to vapor quite quickly and begins swirling about the ceramic pieces. Bits of the sodiums hit various parts of the pieces and form beautiful splatter-like patterns. A lot of soda fired pieces don’t even have to have any glaze on them because the soda and ash make such beautiful markings on the naked clay! I am so excited to see how the pieces come out next Saturday for part 2 of the Soda Workshop at Lillstreet!
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