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All my pots are
made on a treadle wheel, an English style kick wheel using
a porcelain clay body. Once the form is completed and has
become “bone dry”, I apply a terra sigalatta to
the pot. Terra sigalatta is the finest clay particles that
are extracted from dry clay.
The technique was developed in the eastern Mediterranean in
the 1st century B.C. and its development spread with the Roman
Empire. A stain is then added to the terra sigalatta and brushed
onto the pot, it absorbs into the clay forming a thin skin.
I
then carve through the terra sigalatta into the porcelain
pot with the use of small loop tool; this carving method is
called sgraffito (pronounced scra-fee-toe), an Italian word
meaning, “to scratch”. After the carving is complete,
the pot is then bisque fired in an electric kiln. After this
firing a glaze is applied to areas such as the inside of a
cup or handles for functional and decorative purposes.
The final firing process occurs in a gas kiln. Here, the wares
are fired with propane to a temperature of 2350 F. Once this
temperature is reached, I introduce table salt to the firing,
the salt reacts to the silica; it’s this combination
of sodium and silica that glazes the pot and seals the surface.
It can be said that salt firing is a self-glazing firing method.
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