Improvised Saggar For Cone 6 Oxidation/reduction

[Diggsart]

I am experimenting with cone 6 electric kiln. Some time ago I had a book that described wrapping the piece and the organics in a cocoon of clay as a way to do reduction in an electric kiln. I think it was a library book because I can't find the info in any of my current holdings. Does anyone know of the book or know the details of the technique?

[MMB]

I pitfire but havent used the saggar technique yet. But from most of the things Ive read about fuming on pots is usually for lower temp pots. Being that the pots accept the fume colors better if the pot is still decently porous, lower cones like 010-06. So from that point of view a cone 6 firing temp would probably create a pot that would not accept the coloring at all. Also too some people will fire their work after a saggar or pitfire to burn off colors and then refire to get more intricate colors.

 

Someone else correct me if Im wrong though.

[OffCenter]

I pitfire but havent used the saggar technique yet. But from most of the things Ive read about fuming on pots is usually for lower temp pots. Being that the pots accept the fume colors better if the pot is still decently porous, lower cones like 010-06. So from that point of view a cone 6 firing temp would probably create a pot that would not accept the coloring at all. Also too some people will fire their work after a saggar or pitfire to burn off colors and then refire to get more intricate colors.

 

Someone else correct me if Im wrong though.

 

I've done lots of cone 10 sagger firing and now do cone 6 sagger fires in electric kilns. I get much better results in an electric kiln because the contrast between the reduced part of the porcelain pot and the part that is not is stronger. Obviously, the colors aren't the same as low-fire or pit-firing and are limited but you can get similar colors and at high temps some organic material turns into a glaze (at cone 10 lawn clipping can form a white glaze). Right now, I'm using a very translucent porcelain to get tea bowls (for an upcoming show) that are black on bottom shading through gray to a translucent white. Some are so nice that I keep them as they are, others I fire again to cone 6-8 (without the sagger) to replace some of the black with mottled grays. I don't, but if I wanted flashes of color, I'd sprinkle a little copper sufate or other chem on the coffee grinds I use to get black and/or use other material such as wood chips and crushed charcoal.

[MMB]

Then I was wrong hahaha. Oh well thank you offcenter for the information. Question though since it sparked my curiosity. What do you use to make the saggar? Ive read that people use foil etc and seal it, but I thought doesnt there need to be a vent to allow release? or is it literally sealed? When they say heavy foil is that stuff from the store or pottery supplied foil? We never did this back in school so Ive been dabbling on my own. My first step was pitfiring and during my info hunt I stumbled across the saggar technique and was quite intrigued. Although I decided to hold off on the sagger tech till I pitfire more.

 

What precautions do you take to maintain protection against the damaging aspects of your kiln? I keep reading about how damaging the carbon can be. The internet is a wonderful place for information yet at times some things can mislead or rumor certain aspects of an idea. So far this forum comes correct and is always on point.

[OffCenter]

Then I was wrong hahaha. Oh well thank you offcenter for the information. Question though since it sparked my curiosity. What do you use to make the saggar? Ive read that people use foil etc and seal it, but I thought doesnt there need to be a vent to allow release? or is it literally sealed? When they say heavy foil is that stuff from the store or pottery supplied foil? We never did this back in school so Ive been dabbling on my own. My first step was pitfiring and during my info hunt I stumbled across the saggar technique and was quite intrigued. Although I decided to hold off on the sagger tech till I pitfire more.

 

What precautions do you take to maintain protection against the damaging aspects of your kiln? I keep reading about how damaging the carbon can be. The internet is a wonderful place for information yet at times some things can mislead or rumor certain aspects of an idea. So far this forum comes correct and is always on point.

 

there are many ways to sagger fire. I've seen some beautiful pots that are fired with an easy-to-break-away clay attached to the pots (like the foil you mention). since i only want the bottom half of of the pot black, i simply put the pot in a sagger that leaves 1/2 or less above the sagger and fill the sagger with coffee grinds. I use any cone 10 clay for the sagger. i only fire 2, 3 or maybe 4 small saggers (just big enough to hold a mug and lots of coffee around it). that way i can fill the kiln with other glazed pots without the saggers ruining the glazes. the only thing i do to try to help make the elements last longer is leave the peeps open until the smoke clears.

 

jim