Internalized Combustion
October 15, 2011 in Artist, artists, Ceramics, In The Studio, jewelry, Uncategorized
I was first introduced to Saggar Firing by Steve Smith of the Four Corners Gallery and Smithworks Studio in response to a desire to create porcelain or stoneware pieces for a necklace that didn’t require glaze. I wanted a beautiful rich color that was incredibly strong, lightweight, and unique. Initially I had thought Raku would be the direction for these pieces but after determining the lower heat would not produce a strong enough piece and listening to the description of Saggar Firing, I was determined this was the way to go.
Over the last year or so I’ve tested this concept and design several times. Finally, after hours of playing I’ve developed a technique and a finished design that conveys everything I wanted:
- Femininity of character
- Strength both literally and figuratively
- Bold Style
- Tribal sensibility
Steve’s initial description of the process intrigued me on a level even beyond the technical firing aspects. When Steve is passionate about something, you read that passion in every nuance of his presentation. He leaned in close. Using his hands and in a low voice he described gently burying the spears of porcelain in fine sawdust inside a worn looking pot with a lid. Once all the pieces are buried, the lid is placed on the container and it is placed into the kiln to be fired.
It is what happens inside that lidded jar that intrigued me so and still, two years after my first Saggar Firing continues to capture my imagination. The environment is lacking oxygen because of the lid. The combustible materials smolder and fume, turn to carbon. The black carbon is attracted to the pure white porcelain and infuses itself, forming a bond that is as permanent as it is beautiful.
His low voiced description of this process started my wheels turning. This process sounds like the same process that has happened inside my head for years. There are so many thoughts, issues, concepts that I clamp a lid down on tightly, place them away from the light in order to ignore them so I can go about my day. In this dark place the ideas smolder. The dark residue attaches itself to my innocence. The pure whiteness is gone but what remains is stronger and equally beautiful.
The necklace itself if comprised of these porcelain or stoneware spears interspersed with and suspended from freshwater pearls or, which I like to think of as pearls of wisdom gained through years of experience, and gemstones representing all the people in my life that have sparkled and danced with me.
