What is pit firing?

1. What is a pit firing? What is a foil saggar? What is a paper saggar? Include pictures for all. 

Pit firing is the original method for 'baking clay' that dates back thousands of years ago. The pit fire puts color and pattern on the pots during the process. It is done by making a pit or hole in the ground that is at lest a food and a half deep,  and filling it with a combination of saw dust, grass and wood shavings as the first layer. Then, newspaper can be put in to protect the pots or ceramics. Then, it is light on fire. The ceramics put into the pit will get unique imprints from the pit firing, adding a lot of character to the piece. 

A foil sagger is a container in which ceramics can be placed in during a firing, or a covering that goes over them, such as aluminum foil. Saggars trap the smoke in with the ceramic, so it can be absorbed by the piece. This process is to drastically change the look of the piece. 

Ferric Chloride can be put on the piece during the process. I even read aboutone technique that involved the use of sugar.

 

Paper sagging is the same as aluminum foil sagging in concept, but typically newspaper is used for this type of sagging. The newspaper is wrapped tightly around the ceramic piece to trap in the smoke, and imprint the pot with a unique design. It's like putting 'mummifying' the piece.

2. What makes these techniques special?

What makes these techniques special is they can always be adjusted by the artist. The length of time that the piece is in the pit fire, and what median is used for sagging the piece greatly influence the overall look of the piece. Any minuscule change in the process can create drastically different results that may be difficult to recreate. This makes every piece special and unique in its own way. There can be a 40% breakage rate with pit firing, making it a very risky process for artists, but one that is rewarding if the cernaics do come out in one piece. 

Free Project

I love dreamcatchers and had a really strong urge to make one, but I didn't know when the opportunity would arise in a sculpture class until the free project. This dreamcatcher cost almost nothing to make; I used a recycled wooden ring that Ms.Sudkamp found, and the string and yarn I used from the classroom cost virtually nothing. I used beads I already had, but I had to purchase feathers (plucking them for free off of birds would've been too gross). The limitation of $3 or less wasn't a problem for me. Learning to make the dream catcher was fun, yet challenging. I watched at least 5 videos on Youtube to figure out how to make the pattern in the center of the ring. I feel that the end result is very successful. 

Vessel

http://pinterest.com/sabrinadz12/vessels/

When I began this project, I had a very different vision than how the final project ended up.  I had wanted to create a unique shape with the wire, and have the spider-webby wire pattern be filled in lightly with tissue paper, creating a see through sculpture.  This was alot more difficult than it seemed, and the wire was not as bendable as I had hoped.  The tissue paper tore if I only put a thin layer on, and this resulted in me being forced to add more until it was no longer see-through like I had originally envisioned.  However, I'm proud of the final project due, as it took alot of hot glue gun burns to create it.  I still succeeded in creating a sculpture out of wire and tissue paper, although it ended up different than my goal had been. 

Animal Head

 This project was pretty challenging for me, because I had difficulty making the head hollow, yet still sturdy.  I like how my fox head turned out, although I would go back and smooth it out if I could.  The biggest challenge was the eyes, and I feel that they could be improved to create a more realistic feel of the overall piece.  Painting my animal head will be fun, and hopefully will improve the look of the sculpture.

Styrogami

Relief

This was the hardest mini lesson for me simply because of the x-acto knives. I hate working with dry mediums and I hated scraping through the cardboard. I feel that the final result is good, however the process was tedious. 

To me, the clay tile mini lesson was pretty easy and fun because it was on a flat surface, which is easiest for me, and I enjoy working with clay. I liked my idea for this lesson and it was enjoyable to create. My biggest challenges with this lesson was the dryness of the clay, and I failed to smooth the clay at the end. 

My final piece was inspired by the theme Human and Nature.

How did you use your own unique ideas in your work?

I've always been fascinated by the human heart and doodle it all over my papers. I wanted to combine human and nature in a creative way, and when I sketched my project it came out just as I imagined it. The heart was drawn to resemble a rose, to be a heart/flower in a vase. 

What is this art intended to say? 

When I was creating this piece, I did it with the idea in mind of the connection humans have with nature. I didn't want to simply mush together a human and nature theme, so I used the idea of the heart, a symbol for human capacity for love and soul, to combine with a plant that lacked that capability. The work is intended to show the contrast between intelligent life and nonintelligent life, while highlighting the greater beauty in a simpler life form that cannot be achieved by humans alone. 

Illustration Friday: Jagged