Linda Lees

Alabama, thanks for your reply. I did get better results when firing greenware. I sourced the sawdust from a sawmill, so I'm not sure how dry it would have been, as you say, it seemed dry. That might explain the glossy, metallic looking marks seen in the photo second from last. I live in a small country town in Australia, so there's not a lot of information available about techniques such as these in the local library or bookstores, but secondhand online is a good idea. Postage from the US to Australia is exorbitant which limits purchasing from there and that's where I'm likely to find the mo

These are the results of my second firing. The pots were not first bisque fired. I spent a lot of time burnishing with a stone and then using terra sigillata. I buffed the sig with a plastic bag before painting on a design, also with terra sigillata, but not burnishing this. I built a small fire and tried to get it really hot. I had the pots sitting by the fire to warm them prior to placing the metal tin on top of the fire, with the pots sitting inside, on a bed of cow manure. I then buried the pots in more manure inside the tin, placed a barbecue plate on top and piled up more wood around it

I just thought - does the type of manure used make a difference? I suppose it would, as would the type of wood used for the fire.

Thanks for your response Marcia. I live in a rural area and get my clay through a ceramics club of which I'm a member. The club no longer buys earthenware clay after a couple of accidents where it was fired to stoneware. I was given a small amount of terracotta earthenware that I used for these pots. The one on the right was burnished with a spoon, that's how it has a smoother finish. Three of the pots were burnished using a terra sigillata made from the same earthenware clay. One was burnished with a spoon and on the last one I applied a terra sig made from a white ball clay. In the first fi

Thanks Babs, that was my starting point. One of the videos I watched was by her grandson.

Hello, I recently came across a couple of YouTube clips on a firing method used by Pueblo people of the Southwest USA. There appears to be a couple of bits of information that aren't quite clear. If anyone has attempted this type of firing, I'd love some guidance. I made some small pots using earthenware terracotta clay. Four of the pots had terra sigillata made from the same clay applied to them and one I burnished using the back of a spoon. I then bisque fired the pieces, this is the step that I'm not sure I should have done. Several days after the bisque, I applied patterns onto the po