Thursday, February 16, 2012

Saggar firing of suited figures

I have been asked about the glazing finish on the clay suited figures I have been posting images of. There is in fact no glaze involved but what I love using is a saggar. A saggar is a heavy clay tomb like box that can be used to create a kiln within a kiln. Originally saggars were used to cleanly fire precious clayware in coal-fired kilns where the heated atmosphere would have been full of nasty contaminants. Each glazed bisqued piece was carefully sealed inside its own saggar and these were stacked inside the kiln keeping their micro-environment hot but clean. I use the saggar in exactly he opposite way by sealing in contaminants with the piece being fired. I have experimented with packaging the figures with all sorts of things such as wood, bones, metal, coal, shells in fact anything is worth trying.



The saggar is loaded up and sealed tight with clay and fired.


Then opened to reveal interesting colouration and effects.


3 comments:

Guy said...

Hi Brian

Thanks for the explanation it looks like a very interesting process and I enjoyed your spin on it.

Regards
Guy

Tom said...

Hi,

Stumbled across your work the other day – really like it. Comparisons are crass I guess, but your work reminds me a little of an artist called Patrick Woodroffe (don't know if you've heard of him).

I don't suppose you have an online gallery, or somewhere where you sell your prints etc?

Keep up the good work anyway.

Thanks,

Tom

Brian McKenzie said...

Hi Tom...thanks for your comment. I do have my work on a few odd scattered gallery sites but the best way to contact me about buying work is by dealing with me directly on this blog. You can get my e-mail address via the "view my complete profile" link down on the side bar.
Thanks