Burning the ladies

 

It is a magic world.  Mix a little dirt and water, make mud.  Squeeze it, dry it scratch and scrape it into a form, then put it in a fire - it turns into stone.  What materials are in the mud?  What temperature the fire?  For how long?  How much oxygen do you allow in to touch the clay?   Materials.  so much fun. 

I have burned ladies in America.  But this is my first time in Japan.

First the ladies:




raw dry clay

 

in the tin can with a bed of wood chips and torn up test papers

 

 

start the fire

 

inside had just enough oxygen to make charcoal

 

after the fire

 

the smaller one came through it fine

 

the bigger gal needed a little Elmer's

 

I am not making tea cups for the queen.  For my work I like the older materials and methods.  I love the feel, the color, the weight of these ladies that come from a low fire wood burning technique.  I have tried electric and gas kilns.  There is no comparison at all.

The next question is what to do with these ladies now that they are done?  I had thought to put them into my wooden boxes, but that was long ago, before the idea of the inside paintings came along.  Now... who can say.  And with any luck I will have one more burn before October's exhibition.