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Firing Processes
Saggar Firing Sagger fired pottery originated in ancient China where “throw-away” clay pots were used to protect fine porcelain pottery that was placed inside of them from the fly ash in the wood fired kilns.
This technique later spread to Europe and America where covered clay containers or saggers were used in the same way by industrial pottery manufacturers to protect the pottery in the coal fired kilns. With the invention of clean burning gas and electric kilns in the twentieth century there was no longer a need for saggers.
However, creative Raku artists discovered that if you place un-glazed pots in a sagger with various materials on and around them and then place the entire thing in a kiln you will have, in effect, a kiln inside a kiln. When the materials in the sagger burn, the gasses and by products have no where to go but onto the pot placed with them. This creates dramatic patterns and flashes of color that penetrate the surface of the vessels.
Sagger fired pottery is water proof, however it is not water tight, nor is it “food safe”. If you wish to use your vessel to hold flowers please use a liner vase.

Naku The invention of naku or naked raku, as it is sometimes called, is credited to Dutch potter Eddie Porck. While moving a hot pot from the raku kiln to the reduction can a piece of glaze chipped off. While the pot smoldered in the can, smoke invaded the surface and left a network of patterns. Eddie saw the possibilities offered by this “mistake”. Over the next few months he tested and developed the process untill it was possible to strip away the whole glaze surface with a degree of control.
This bit of serendipity led to a whole new form of firing that was later refined by innovative potters like Wally Allberg of Belgium and Americans, Linda and Charlie Riggs.
The technique that I use starts with a burnished, bisque fired pot which is liberally coated with a high fire clay slip. While in the raku kiln the slip shrinks, causing a network of cracks to appear in the pot. When the pot is placed in the smoke filled atmosphere of the reduction can the smoke imprints the pot. When the cooled slip is scraped away the pot is revealed as an individual and dramatic treasure.
After cleaning, each pot is polished with up to 10 coats of hand rubbed beeswax and carnuba wax finish.
While naku pottery is waterproof, it is not water tight, nor is it “food-safe”. If you wish to use your naku vessel to hold flowers please use a liner vase.

Sawdust Firing Harkening back to ancient times, sawdust firing or pit firing as it is otherwise known is perhaps the oldest form of pottery. Modern scholars have theorized that the first clay vessels were created when baskets waterproofed with a lining of fresh clay were accidentally burned in a fire. This “mistake” led to all forms of modern ceramics. In many countries around the world the practice of firing pots in open wood fires still goes on.
To create the sawdust vessels that I make, I first start with a completely dry pot then sand it. This removes the throwing marks, starts the smoothing process, and helps to refine the shape. Once the sanding is finished I coat the vessel with a layer of oil and using a damp cloth in a circular motion I rub the pot all over to bring up a thin layer of clay that fills in the minute scratches left from the sandpaper. With a smooth river stone I rub the pot with interconnecting, back and forth strokes all over until the plate-like molecules of clay are all laying flat, this oiling and burnishing process is repeated at least three times until the pot has a smooth mirror finish.
The next step in the process is the “bisque” firing in an electric kiln. This hardens the pottery and dries all residual water from the body of the clay.
The final firing starts by burying the pot in layers of hardwood sawdust and small pieces of exotic hardwoods. The sawdust is lit from the top and allowed to burn for 24 hours. This process creates pots with distinctive black and white surfaces and random flashes of colors from both the trace minerals in the wood, and the smoke from the fire. Finally, the pots are pulled from the kiln and cleaned of excess carbon, then given at least 4 coats of hand rubbed wax. Caution: While water will not hurt sawdust fired pottery, it is not water tight nor is it food safe. If you wish to use your pot for cut flowers, I suggest you place a liner vase inside.

Horse Hair Pottery Dramatic in appearance as it is to make, horsehair raku’s origins are credited to California potter Michael Morier. Sometime in the 1970’s Mr Morier discoverd that the course hairs from the mane and tails of horses would carbonize on the surface of pottery in distinctive “lightening strike” patterns.
The horse hair raku that I make starts with a perfectly dry pot, which is then sanded through 6 grades of sandpaper. Once the sanding process is finished the pot is oiled and the surface is rubbed all over with a soft damp cotton cloth. I follow this sanding and oiling process by burnishing the surface all over with a smooth river rock. This process is repeated at least 4 times, until the surface is very smooth with a mirror finish.
After the burnishing, the pot is bisque fired in an electric kiln to harden the clay and remove all vestiges of water from the clay.
I next place the pot into a gas kiln and heat it to well beyond 1200 degrees. Carefully removing it with metal tongs I start placing horse hair on the surface, where it immediately starts burning it’s way into the body of the pot.
After it is allowed to cool the pot is cleaned and given at least 4 coats of hand rubbed wax.
While water will not harm horse hair raku, it is not water tight, nor is it considered “food safe”.

Les Powell
Smoking Turtle Studio
546 Avery's Creek Road
Arden, NC 28704
828.216.1037

lespwll@aol.com