Kohaku Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 I make thrown sag gars out of raku clay. I used to make them with galleys for a tighter seal, but I find more flexibility if I don't. I can see a little flashing where the seal was not tight.There is not much out gassing. There is a little smell but not much. Residue stays inside the sag gars for the most part. I do this in a kiln shed 10 x 19 with large steel barn doors that I open up, across from an open door plus two exhaust fans near the high ceiling.I have not seen any residue on the fiber in my kiln. Marcia Can you stack multiple saggars... or fire regular raku wares on top of a single saggar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted July 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 I don't think there would be any problem stacking. I haven't done it. My sag gars are fairly large enough to fill the kiln. But I have been thinking of stacking pots IN the sag gars. I need to make pots to fit the sag gars. Why can't auto correct get saggars right? Marcia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minspargal Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 Very nice indeed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wirerabbit Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 Nice pots, Marci, Hope to do some of this "higher fire saggar work" soon. I have a concrete pad ready for a metal structure. Then I will have a place to put all my raku conversion kilns. May even have one that can go past raku temps. Is 1600 your target temp for this type of work? What effects do you see if you accidentally over or under fire the saggars? Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OffCenter Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 Nice pots, Marci, Hope to do some of this "higher fire saggar work" soon. I have a concrete pad ready for a metal structure. Then I will have a place to put all my raku conversion kilns. May even have one that can go past raku temps. Is 1600 your target temp for this type of work? What effects do you see if you accidentally over or under fire the saggars? Thanks for sharing. You can sagger fire to any cone you like. I go to cone 6 and 10. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted July 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2013 I fired some foil saggars today. And the potassium manganese came before I did the second batch.http://ceramicartsdaily.org/community/gallery/image/2770-foilgroup-copy/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted July 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2013 Nice pots, Marci, Hope to do some of this "higher fire saggar work" soon. I have a concrete pad ready for a metal structure. Then I will have a place to put all my raku conversion kilns. May even have one that can go past raku temps. Is 1600 your target temp for this type of work? What effects do you see if you accidentally over or under fire the saggars? Thanks for sharing. Nice pots, Marci, Hope to do some of this "higher fire saggar work" soon. I have a concrete pad ready for a metal structure. Then I will have a place to put all my raku conversion kilns. May even have one that can go past raku temps. Is 1600 your target temp for this type of work? What effects do you see if you accidentally over or under fire the saggars? Thanks for sharing. Hey tay! Come on down and fire with me sometime. Bring Marsha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pugaboo Posted July 13, 2013 Report Share Posted July 13, 2013 Thank you so much for posting; your work you so beautiful. Your animal silhouette vases in your gallery really inspire me as well. In fact seeing those helped me be brave enough to make my first vase, ended up completely different than yours but yours are what got me to thinking about the possibilities and the shape. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlady Posted July 13, 2013 Report Share Posted July 13, 2013 love it all, the classic shape, the colorful finished look, the unexpected way of firing. great stuff. congrats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted July 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2013 Thank you so much for posting; your work you so beautiful. Your animal silhouette vases in your gallery really inspire me as well. In fact seeing those helped me be brave enough to make my first vase, ended up completely different than yours but yours are what got me to thinking about the possibilities and the shape. Terry Terry, You are a painter and drawer as well as a sculptor. Many people can't draw, but if you can you should use it. M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted July 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2013 Thanks for the inspiration Marcia. I've been doing more Ferric chloride/Aluminum saggar firing recently. I will have to do another clay saggar firing this weekend! Marc Mark, your foil saggar pots are really beautiful. I think you must be using a heavier dose of the Ferric chloride. My mix was more than 6 years old. Maybe it was much less potent. Nice work in your gallery. Marcia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc McMillan Posted July 13, 2013 Report Share Posted July 13, 2013 Thanks for the inspiration Marcia. I've been doing more Ferric chloride/Aluminum saggar firing recently. I will have to do another clay saggar firing this weekend! Marc Mark, your foil saggar pots are really beautiful. I think you must be using a heavier dose of the Ferric chloride. My mix was more than 6 years old. Maybe it was much less potent. Nice work in your gallery. Marcia Thank you very much Marcia. I love your work. Gotta love that peach! Would I assume correctly you don't use a huge bed of sawdust or keep it away from the piece? Mine saggar vessels tend to have a heavy carbon mark at the bottom. As far as my Ferric - I use three brushed coats of 100% strength, and yes it is relatively 'fresh.' I'm wishing I could make it to Minneapolis for your seminar. Perhaps I can arrange a business trip. Best Regards, Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted July 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2013 Thanks for the inspiration Marcia. I've been doing more Ferric chloride/Aluminum saggar firing recently. I will have to do another clay saggar firing this weekend! Marc Mark, your foil saggar pots are really beautiful. I think you must be using a heavier dose of the Ferric chloride. My mix was more than 6 years old. Maybe it was much less potent. Nice work in your gallery. Marcia Thank you very much Marcia. I love your work. Gotta love that peach! Would I assume correctly you don't use a huge bed of sawdust or keep it away from the piece? Mine saggar vessels tend to have a heavy carbon mark at the bottom. As far as my Ferric - I use three brushed coats of 100% strength, and yes it is relatively 'fresh.' I'm wishing I could make it to Minneapolis for your seminar. Perhaps I can arrange a business trip. Best Regards, Marc I follow the Riggs method of saggars. Not much sawdust and the pot sits up and out the the combustibles. In the clay sag gars, I am trying for greens. The peach is nice too. Ine the foil saggars I want to work of colors and spots. The sugar went too black but the silver nitrate granules show potential. Marcia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kohaku Posted September 13, 2013 Report Share Posted September 13, 2013 So- I'm considering experimenting with using a sagger firing with some of my Raku surfaces. There are two primary things I'd like to see... 1) Significant 'smoking' or blackening of non-glazed surfaces. 2) Intermediate (and variable) levels of reduction in the glazed areas. I'm going to do some tests in my paragon Firefly. Anyhow- I've thrown a sagger. I plan to glaze a piece (with my standard Raku glazes), nest it in the sagger (surrounded by newspaper) and fire rapidly to 1850 degrees (fasted ramp I can get). Immediate cool-down to follow. For anyone who's done sagger firing... 1) Aside from a tight vessel, are there any mechanisms for sealing the sagger? 2) Any suggestions for the firing profile? 3) How much combustable material should I put in the sagger? Ideally, I don't want a flat copper surface... 4) Any other suggestions? 5) Do I have a snowball's chance in Hades of achieving either of my goals with this approach? I'm interested in a Raku-like surface effect (particularly the blackened clay body)... but avoiding the worst of the thermal shock that makes it difficult to fire some assembled, flat, or delicate pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMB Posted September 16, 2013 Report Share Posted September 16, 2013 From my experiences make sure the salt does not touch the pot. When it burns, if Im not mistaken, it burns hotter and the clay closest will shrink and you will get a nasty cracked spot. You mention glaze? I dont think glazing is possible, Ive only tried once and it didnt turn out so well. Although before I type a bunch Ceramic Arts Daily has a nice little post that could help you out. http://ceramicartsdaily.org/firing-techniques/raku-firing-techniques/tips-for-making-firing-and-finishing-saggars-and-saggar-fired-pottery-in-a-raku-kiln/ Ive used flower pots as saggars and Ive also done the "mummy" technique where you use burlap and slip then wrap it and let it dry. Kinda like a one time use saggar. It worked for me because I had a ton of local clay that was kinda useless, but a little paper pulp then applied to the burlap it worked just fine. As for the firing Ive always turned up the heat and let it go. When using a saggar it takes the beating from the fast heating and not your pot. Test at all temps but do remember that the longer you stay at a temp especially hitting that 1600-1700 F mark you can actually burn off any flashing that might have already been on your pot. And if youre looking to achieve blacks you dont have to go that high. Here is a little pdf site I stumbled upon a while back. http://users.skynet.be/russel.fouts/Files/OhYesYouCanPMIJA09lr.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlady Posted September 16, 2013 Report Share Posted September 16, 2013 marcia, i do not know where you are right now but if still in england, check out the EELES FAMILY POTTERY. they work with silver nitrate and do gorgeous work with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kohaku Posted September 18, 2013 Report Share Posted September 18, 2013 I was Raku firing this weekend. Just for the heck of it, I ran off a small sagger and a test pot. I glazed it with my usual Raku glazes, packed the pot in paper in the sagger, and ran it through the Raku cycle. The Sagger suffered a crack... so it's not a really definitive test. However, a few interesting observations. 1) Heavy reduction, even with limited combustibles and some modest exposure to oxygen. 2) My copper-based raku glaze- usually turquoise to red, came out looking like Oxblood (interior of pot). 3) A white crackle glaze that I put on the exterior carbon-trapped like crazy 4) None of the unglazed surfaces came out smoked... except on the based, where the oxygen flow was presumably cut off. So- it does seem like it's possible to smoke a surface, even without post-fire reduction. Anyhow, I think this merits some further experimentation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minspargal Posted September 18, 2013 Report Share Posted September 18, 2013 I think they look great! Glad you posted your results! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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