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Horse Hair Firing


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I been wanting to use the horse hair technique, however, I do not have a raku kiln. Can I fire a single pot in a electric kiln, turn it off, and then apply the horse hair, safely, of course? I have a small Paragon A82B kiln and I thought it might work if I put the pot at center height. If so, what temperature? 

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I have bisqued low fire clay and then used a propane torch to heat the pot to a temperature high enough to do a horse hair firing. If you pull the pot out of a low fire you need to let it cool down to the point where the horse hair will burn and leave a carbon trace. If it is too hot, the carbon will burn away. Too cool, and the hair wont burn to the surface of the pot.  There is a learning curve, not only on temperature, but also how you apply the horse hair. ( go to u-tube!!!)

 

As I said, I did horse hair fires with cold pots heated up with a propane torch. If the effect didn't look right, I just kept heating till the carbon trace burned off, and tried again. Horse hair firing is an art in itself. It ain't rocket science , but it isn't slam dunk either.

 

If you want to try it out of the kiln, then go for it. If you have a kiln controller, set it to where you see a low red heat. Pull the pot out, and when it loses the glow, start putting your hair on it till you get good traces. To erase mistakes, put it back in the kiln.

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I have bisqued low fire clay and then used a propane torch to heat the pot to a temperature high enough to do a horse hair firing. If you pull the pot out of a low fire you need to let it cool down to the point where the horse hair will burn and leave a carbon trace. If it is too hot, the carbon will burn away. Too cool, and the hair wont burn to the surface of the pot.  There is a learning curve, not only on temperature, but also how you apply the horse hair. ( go to u-tube!!!)

 

As I said, I did horse hair fires with cold pots heated up with a propane torch. If the effect didn't look right, I just kept heating till the carbon trace burned off, and tried again. Horse hair firing is an art in itself. It ain't rocket science , but it isn't slam dunk either.

 

If you want to try it out of the kiln, then go for it. If you have a kiln controller, set it to where you see a low red heat. Pull the pot out, and when it loses the glow, start putting your hair on it till you get good traces. To erase mistakes, put it back in the kiln.

I forgot to ask; but if I fire the pot to vitrificationCone 6, in this case, with a terra sigillataCan I still fire at a low fire to apply the horse hair as you suggested?  

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I would think the temperature you're looking for is cone 06 and not 6.

Also consider the form for dropping hair onto, i.e, something with shoulders.

 

The temperature range will be somewhere in the 600 - 800 degree range.

 

Vitrified (cone 6) vessels seem to lock out the ability of the carbon designs you want... But try one any way, just for giggles.

 

There is at least one historical account where the Cherokee women drew designs on their vessels with turkey feathers as the pots were cooling down. There is only about a ten minute window of opportunity to do this, and since you know their pottery could only be heated to 951 degrees f. to begin with, that gives you the

800 to 600 degree cooling down window.

 

I was told once by a horse trainer that horses don't have nerve endings at the base of their hair, so to shorten their tails you shuck it, instead of cutting it.

The manes are trimmed with clippers, though.

 

And don't breathe the smoke!(per fire dept. training manuals)

 

Good luck, have fun....

Alabama

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I was told once by a horse trainer that horses don't have nerve endings at the base of their hair, so to shorten their tails you shuck it, instead of cutting it.

The manes are trimmed with clippers, though.

 

 

Close. They do have nerve endings, but not many. Manes are shortened by pulling the longer hairs out. Tails have more nerves than manes and are generally cut to square the bottoms, or some show horses have their tails pulled from the sides of the dock (tail bone) so as not to look bushy at the top.

I have found using mane hair and tail hair gives slightly different effects, since the mane hair is slightly thinner than the tail hair. My husband does A LOT of horse hair raku, so I actually roach one of my horses for him once a year (that is, I shave his entire mane off). He is a paint and interestingly the white mane hairs do not crimp and twirl and curl as they burn as much as the chestnut hairs do.

We fire the pots to cone 06 in the propane kiln, but have never played with terra sig and hh yet.

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I do it in the electric kiln and even manage a few pieces at a time. Definitely turn off the kiln before reaching in with you metal tongs and eye protection is important....just in case.

Hey, thanks for the help Marc. I think I'll give it a go then.  

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  • 1 month later...

Thinking of trying this technique. Is there a way to reheat already fired pots and then apply the horse hair? Does horse hair only work on unglazed pieces? I've also seen feathers and sugar burned onto pots for carbon imprints. Can you also use plants for imprints?

 

Sorry, lots of questions. :)

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Thinking of trying this technique. Is there a way to reheat already fired pots and then apply the horse hair? Does horse hair only work on unglazed pieces? I've also seen feathers and sugar burned onto pots for carbon imprints. Can you also use plants for imprints?

 

Sorry, lots of questions. :)

 

 

Nothing wrong with questions.  As Marcia mentioned above, pots that have already been fired to vitrification, would probably not be able to handle the thermal shock of quick heating/ cooling.  So pots already fired would probably shatter or at very least crack.

The carbon effect wouldn't be very visible on glazed pieces.  It might "Smokey" up the glaze a bit, but not like the look of standard horsehair.  In the latter case, the hair, feathers, etc are applied to a smooth, burnished clay surface.  This is usually accomplished with terra sig.

I can't imagine using plants would do much.  Fresh plant material wouldn't burn well enough, and too dry, and it would just go up in smoke too quickly.

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Benzine is correct. Vitrified pots would probably crack, and even if they did not, the horse hair would not make the distinctive smokey trace. 

 

As I mentioned before, I have reheated bisque fired pots with a propane torch and then placed horse hair on the heated surface and it worked. You have to heat the surfaces slowly and bring them up to a high enough temperature to carbonize the hair. Hold the hair in both hands and loosely drape it over the hot surface.It takes some practice, but I have done lots of them this way.

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