With smoke firing you never know what end result you are going to get.

There are so many variables. For example, saw dust burns a lot slower than wood shavings. It matters what size holes you have drilled in the side of your smoke chamber ( in my case, dustbin).

This torso

was glazed with the same glaze and oxides as this one…

and this one. The one difference is the amount of soot I added to the saw dust and the way I packed the wood shavings and saw dust around the torso. I have found that copper oxide will turn bright red under very strong reduction so I try to starve the atmosphere inside the smoke chambers of oxygen. To learn more about smoke firing, and  get a chance to experiment and play, you are welcome to join my ceramic and smokefiring workshops in Hastings.

Please scroll down the page to see more posts on smoke firing, body casting and other ceramic techniques.