Pit Firing with Martin O'Neill

There was a good turnout at Martins for this joint demonstration of pit firing and a Raku firing with Susan Morgan who did velvet raku firing. The weather gods also smiled upon participants and all had a perfect day.

Martin started by unpacking his pit from a previous firing which took about 24 hours. Then pots were glazed for both the pit firing and raku firings. Susan Morgan supplied her own velvet raku glaze for people to tryout.

After lunch Martin started to pack the pit; first he layered the bottom of the pit with sawdust, then with members own work, after this he sprinkled copper oxide and sea salt on to the pots and then he covered the work with wood. Every one joined in to light the fire and after it burnt for a while Martin began to cover the pit with corrugated iron. The firing would take about 24 hours and then the work would be available for collection at a later date.

Sue started the raku firing with help from Terry Bell-Hughes. Susan did her velvet raku firing. It was fantastic to see the raku fired pots coming red hot and glowing out of the kiln straight into sawdust, Sue Kings raku fired work then being quenched in cold water and Sue Morgan's velvet fired work being left in the sawdust with in closed tins, with a little help form a blow torch.

 

Thanks to Martin O'Neill and his partner, for hosting the day and the use of his materials and facilities. Thanks to Terry and Bev Bell Hughes, for organizing the raku firings and Susan Morgan for her velvet glaze. Thanks to Kari Brekke Weir for recording the day in words and pictures.