The Birth of a Blog

This blog was born out of necessity. It all started a couple months ago, when I brought one of my pit fired pieces to some friends to show what wonderful things horse manure can do for a pot. (This piece was smoke-fired in a BBQ using horse manure as fuel — well, actually some wood was used, too! And okay, full disclosure: the pot had also been bisque-fired to cone 06 prior to the firing in the BBQ, and was wrapped in salted raffia with copper carbonate sprinkled about during the smoke-firing. So it’s not just horse poop!)

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One thing led to another after the show and tell. Before long I was tasked to organize a pit firing event. Then came the myriad of questions: What kind of clay should I use? What kind of effects can I expect? What kind of forms are good for pit firing? Is there any kind of special preparations that I should do for my pot before the pit fire? What kind of preparation or treatment will cause the effects I see in this pot here?

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Or that one over there?

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And that got me thinking: instead of meeting with each future pit fire enthusiast individually and do a song and dance routine with each, why not start a blog to document my ongoing experimentation with pit firing, and to analyze the results from past firings — then whoever’s interested in my pit firing experience can come here and read about it? And maybe share their own experiences as well?

So, there you have it, the humble beginning of this humble blog…

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