More pitfire experiments ...

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One of the problems with pitfired pottery - or any other low fired pottery (such as Raku) is that it is not 100% water proof. So I have often been asked if it is possible to glaze the pot on the inside either before or after the pitfire to seal it perfectly.

In theory this is not possible

If you glaze your pottery after you have pitfired it the high temperature used in a glaze fire will burn away the pitfired colors. But what about glazing it before?

In theory this is not possible either.

The problem is that when your pottery is glazed the temperature is so high that the clay vitrify - it becomes solid ceramic and the colors from a pitfire will not attach. At least, this is the theory.

But like all theories I like to test them. Who knows, maybe there is a solution. That would be great. I would love the combination of the great pitfire colors and the water proof quality of glaze.

So, I will test this in this video - along with some other pitfire tests. See the video for the final result ...

INDEX:

00:00 Pitfire Experiments
01:10 Can you Pitfire Glazed Pottery?
04:05 Pitfire Christmas Ornaments
05:51 Using eggshelfs as a Pitifre Colorant
06:28 Preparing the Oil Drum for Pitfire
08:12 The Wood to use for Pitfire
10:02 Preparing the pots for coloring
13:24 Crumbling the Tin Foil for better patterns
14:22 Use protection when working with chemicals
15:00 Coloring with Ferric Chloride
17:39 Coloring with Cobalt Sulfate
20:31 Packing the pots in Tin Foil with Colorants
24:00 Refire Pitfire
27:38 Roling pots in Colorant
30:05 Adding hard woord to the oil drum
35:34 Coloring the Christmas Ornaments
37:03 Packing up the Christmas Ornaments in Tin Foil
39:55 Wrapping up the pre-glazed pot for Pitfire
42:40 Finish the packing of the oil drum - ready to fire
44:50 Getting ready to fire the pit - clean up!
47:45 Adding more wood to the fire
49:36 The Next Morning
50:40 Unloading the pitfire kiln
58:52 The Results of The Pitfire Day