I posted some new images today, all are sculptures, there are 3 heads.

I like to think of the heads as sentries, inspired by mayan sculpture, and manga. The two heads that look really earthy, and like they were burnt have been charcoal fired. A really interesting process that I recommend you investigate if you are interested in working with clay.

I have to post a little info about charcoal firing because it produces such an amazing texture on the surface of the clay. I may be wrong about the chemistry of charcoal firing, so if you know better please comment, but I believe the color is produced by carbon being trapped in the surface of the clay during vitrification.

My ceramics professor Karen at Cal Poly is one of the few who do this kind of thing in Southern California, she let me add some charcoal to the kiln, this experience was fairly intense. There are pictures of me adding charcoal in my scrapbook, check them out.

A simplified explanation of our charcoal firing process:

A sagger is made in the bottom of the kiln to force heat through the spaces in between the objects being fired, and the kiln is taken up to cone 5 before the charcoal is added. I'm not sure how much charcoal was used exactly, but I suppose it would be enough to fill a wheel borrow. The damper is opened and charcoal added through the top of the kiln. Then, about a half gallon of water was dumper in to the vent. The kiln is then taken up to cone 10, and turned off.

The process was amazing, if you are at all interested in ceramics, I recommend you investigate further.

I'd like to try salt, and wood firing, so if any of you know of a place where they do this in Southern Californa please message me..