Does Anyone Sagar Fire?

[jolieo]

Do any of you do this? I am interested in what I could use for the Saggar itself. I might be interested in using it for a reduction atmosphere or testing salt , ash or Saggar firings itself in my tiny electric kiln. I suspect it might be very hard on the elements all the same. What I would really like it for , is to protect my kiln if I am trying something a little risky. So what kind of containment could I use? And how would I set up? Any details are helpful!Thanks Jolie

[oldlady]

marcia, where are you?

[jolieo]

Marcia knows ?l'll just wait here for her?

I came across sagar , I didn't realize I could possibly put a pot in a pot. The possibilities are huge, right? Only thing is the elements and can it be a regular pot or does it have to be specially made .

[bciskepottery]

http://ceramicartsdaily.org/firing-techniques/raku-firing-techniques/tips-for-making-firing-and-finishing-saggars-and-saggar-fired-pottery-in-a-raku-kiln/

 

http://www.upinsmokepottery.com/saggar-firing.html

 

http://www.kenturnerpottery.com/aluminum_foil_saggar_firing.htm

 

http://spot.pcc.edu/~jjohnsto/clay/saggar_firing.pdf

[Rex Johnson]

You're probably going to ruin your electric kiln doing a saggar unless the saggar is completely contained, but it could be done.

You could do a test using the aluminum foil saggars (see post above).

The whole idea doing saggar and pit firing is to create smokey atmospheres. This is a pretty messy process.

 

I've been doing saggars (outside) for the past year using a 50 gallon drum lined with fiber and using a Weed Dragon as a burner and a 5 gallon propane tank. I get 2-3 firings per tank.

It works really well and fires fast. IMO, you'd be better off building the same or making a small unit out of soft brick or an old Skutt type kiln.

 

I use both my own thrown saggars, and red clay pots found at nurseries. (Italian better than those from Mexico).

I've read about using cookie tins, and such but not so sure about how they'd hold up.

I fire to about 1600> F.

 

 

[Marc McMillan]

I throw my saggars (better have some clay that can handle the shock) or do the aluminum foil Saggars for Ferric Chloride firings.

As for the kiln, I use the old metal garbage can lined with Fibre blanket and a simple weed burner set up using propane. no sense in risking ruining your electric kiln.

 

Check out Charlie Rigg's videos on youtube and his article in CM. Both very helpful. Also, get the book Low Firing and Burnishing by Sumi von Dassow. Extremely helpful.

 

Its a great process. Enjoy.

Marc

[jt1jacobs]

I just finished firing one of my saggar kilns, now I'm waiting for it to cool off. 

 

I prefer using an outdoor gas setup, weed burner for flame.  I have an old burned out electric kiln for large loads and a small fiber blanket/ hog wire one for small loads.

 

You can fire in electric but, like you said, the elements are going to deteriorate as well as the brick for that matter... salt is hard on a kiln. There are kiln wash recipies that work well for protecting the brick.  

 

I would recommend building a saggar kiln similar to a raku kiln (make it with a lid for loading).  You can build any size and keep it affordable without ruining a perfectly good test kiln. 

 

As far as the saggars themselves... have fun with it.  I usually have a veriety of saggars within the same kiln.  the picture below shows a load where I used old and new bowls as saggars in my larger kiln.  I covered them with plates and broken pots then tumble stacked foil saggars on top.  I do like to cover the aluminium foil pieces with worn out fiber blanket or broken bowls/plates just to keep the saggar-like atmosphere around the pieces as the foil burns off... which it will if you go up to cone 06.  The saggar bowls I use are usually a high temp stoneware and I can usually get several firings out of them and just keep reinforcing them with wire as they try to break and fall apart on me.

 

Experiment and have fun!

Jesse

 

 

[jolieo]

Wow beautiful stuff! You guys are amazing. Thank you for all the info.it is food for thought . Although w all the rain we have been getting here, idk if I will ever be able to plan on doing something outside!

I was really wondering about a much smaller scale, tiny really: what if I put a very small pot under a bowl in my kiln? Would I be able to do a tiny reduction? Or could I have it salt treated under the bowl and have it react? Would anything bad happen under my bowl? I am basically asking can I create micro environments within the kiln? Thank you

I would like to do the real deal because it is amazing!

[bciskepottery]

Russel Fouts saggar fires in an electric kiln.  http://users.skynet.be/russel.fouts/index.html

[Rex Johnson]

No telling what will happen, that's the fun part.

Sounds like a fun thing to do, tiny environments

 

A couple things, when you cover your piece with the bowl, prop up one edge on a piece of clay, firebrick, whatever you have, so that you'll get some air inside the saggar to help with combustion. Good fuming of salts, chemicals, wood or whatever you out in there needs some oxygen.

Some folks make clay saggars and punch holes in the sides just for that reason.

 

When I fire I always look down through the flue to look for the blue flame coming from a saggar.

That way I know it's doing what I want.

 

Take some pics. I wanna see the tiny saggars!

 

[Rex Johnson]

Don't know if anyone mentioned the foil wrapped saggars but here you go:http://ceramicartsdaily.org/firing-techniques/gas-kiln-firing/aluminum-foil-saggars-an-easy-alternative-to-traditional-clay-saggars/

May be an easy way for you to experiment.

[Marcia Selsor]

I fired ceramic saggars, foil saggars, and have begun experimenting with paper saggars. http://www.marciaselsorstudio.com/saggar-fired-pottery-gallery.html

I have how-to pages on my website. My friend Russel Fouts fires in electric to 590 Celsius but he does not use corrosive chemicals. He uses a wide variety of resists from wax, wet paper, crayons, glue, etc. read his article mentioned above. He uses foil saggars wrapped tight.

My saggars are thrown from Raku clay and fired in my larger raku kiln. If you use an electric kiln be careful not to use chemicals like salt that will corrode you're elements. Joleo, don' t you live in the Rio Grande valley.? Here is a photo of how I fire saggars. http://nebula.wsimg.com/3cf59798876254113417f7d711cf2418?AccessKeyId=B35649CC5C285F1E3AC0&disposition=0&alloworigin=1

 

currently in Spain ...Alajar in an area where I visited potters in 1986. There is a bar owner collector here whose bar /restaurant displays pots from many of the places I visited when I had my Fulbright in 1985-86. My husband has a small conference here for four more days. I am soaking up nature and memory lane. Most of the traditional potteries are vanished now. ..but they are remembered.