Bin firing at home

So not only can you make clay at home, you can also fire what you make in your garden! The method I used was bin firing, although you can pit fire in your garden too. The process I used is similar to a smokefiring but you can stop any smoke markings if you wish.

Preparation

Before I fired my pieces I wrapped the pieces in foil, copper wire and masking tape to try and reduce the heat in some parts to get different colourings. Different variants of slip thicknesses can be used to block out smoke to create patterns effectively, and powdered oxides can add colour to your pieces, but I didn’t test these processes. The work of Elizabeth Michl, Wendy Page, Inger Sodergren amd Antonia Salmon are great examples of the variety you can achieve with smoke and pit firings.

What you need:

·         Metal bin or container with lid

·         Sawdust

·         Newspaper

·         Small logs

·         Lighter fluid

·         Power drill if your bin has no holes

Method:

1.       Prepare your dried ceramic pieces with your foil, wire and masking tape as shown above.

2.       Prop up your bin with bricks or metal feet that come with some bins, this will stop the bin from burning your lawn or paving, and will allow more aeration from the base.

3.       If your bin has been bought without holes in you will need to use a power drill to add some aeration holes around the bin and lid which helps the bin to get hotter.

4.       Fill the bin a third of the way up with sawdust, newspaper and wood and carefully place your pieces in equally spaced apart, and then fill then bin up the rest of the way with more materials.

5.       Light the bin in several places through the holes to allow the fire to be even to create an even firing, and just top up if needed.

6.       Allow the bin to fire for around 6-8 hours and then allow the pieces to cool naturally.

7.       Then remove your work, don’t be disheartened by broken pieces as it can happen due to the type of firing, the process is always experimental and different.