Smoke-fired lidded Vessel with "Bark" Texture

Firing Process - Judy Blake

My work is burnished (smoothed), at the leather hard stage with a river stone which gives the surfaces of the pieces, a beautiful silky glow that seems to come from within the pieces. They are then allowed to dry completely and several layers of fine liquid clay called Terra Sigillata are applied and polished after each coat. The pieces are then bisque fired to approximately 1000 degrees Centigrade and are ready for the final firing which involves one of four smoke-firing processes.

This one is called the Black-firing process where the piece is surrounded by sawdust in a closed container and fired until it’s hot enough to ignite the sawdust and allowed to smoulder for a few hours to create a beautiful, ebony coloured surface.