In this week's class at Greenwich House Pottery, most of us were led by our incredible instructor, Lisa Chicoyne, in making saggar containers. For the uninitiated, saggar is when you wrap a piece in a container in order to surround it with what you could call exotic firing elements during its sunbathing expedition to the kiln. These elements are anything that introduces carbon and other base chemicals into the atmosphere within the container during firing, which then color the surfaces in a completely unique, and apparently somewhat unpredictable way. Here are several shots of the piece to be saggared being bound by copper strips, then surrounded by wood chips, mulched paper, dried grass, dog food (for real!), rock salt and carbon sulfate, aka "root kill", all in a paper bag, which is then wrapped in newspaper drenched in clay slip (liquid clay), papier-maché style. And introducing my new firing tray in its debut performance, seen in the first couple shots, ready to live a selfless life in service to other, more glamorous, art objets.
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Rolf the chemist, scientist, alchemist and ceramacist.
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