Saggar-fired Cardinal

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 Saggar-firing process. The piece is placed in a saggar (a two piece, thick-walled clay container) which has been individually thrown to fit the pot, along with combustible materials such as sawdust, straw, seaweed, copper and salt etc. The pieces inside their saggars, are placed in a brick kiln and fired a second time - some may be fired several times to achieve a desired effect, leaving the surfaces richly marked with visual texture, pattern and a myriad of colours.