Ceramic Firing In A Campfire

Understand why clay needs firing.

Ceramic firing in a campfire. Pit fire clay a traditional method of firing pots in a pit. Pit firing is the original method for baking clay. This process is done typically in a hole in the ground or a pit pots are placed in the pit and burned. Smoke firing in a dustbin this is the method we tried.

A first firing of this creates bisque or biscuit ware. Initially you need to set a campfire that has glowing red heat. It is a sign that the fire is super hot up to. As a ceramic major in school i was looking for ways to fire pieces at home and finally decided to try doing a fire pit firing the piece.

A pit fire is the oldest known method of firing your pottery dating back to 29 000 bc. This is far hotter than a household oven will reach but a well built campfire can get that hot if you have a place where you can safely and legally build a fire. Things to know all of the above methods require low firing clay school pottery clay is fine. It works as a kiln using a hole in the ground as insulation and fuel to reach temperatures around 2000 degrees farenheit.

An ordinary clay can only be turned into a pottery masterpiece at a temperature of more than 1000 f. When there is no equipment to measure such burning temperature here is the simple trick to know. When you first make a model it is called greenware. Although individual clays vary in their maturation temperature most clays will become earthenware ceramics at around 700 celsius or about 1300 fahrenheit.