Ceramic Firing In A Campfire

Understand why clay needs firing.

Ceramic firing in a campfire.

It dates back nearly 30 000 years ago. 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. When you first make a model it is called greenware. Pit firing is the original method for baking clay.

Pit fire clay a traditional method of firing pots in a pit. 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. It is a sign that the fire is super hot up to. An ordinary clay can only be turned into a pottery masterpiece at a temperature of more than 1000 f.

A pit fire is the oldest known method of firing your pottery dating back to 29 000 bc. It works as a kiln using a hole in the ground as insulation and fuel to reach temperatures around 2000 degrees farenheit. A first firing of this creates bisque or biscuit ware. This process is done typically in a hole in the ground or a pit pots are placed in the pit and burned.

Pit firing is an atmospheric process all of the colors and patterns are derived from the process and what is consume in the fire. When there is no equipment to measure such burning temperature here is the simple trick to know. Although individual clays vary in their maturation temperature most clays will become earthenware ceramics at around 700 celsius or about 1300 fahrenheit. Smoke firing in a dustbin this is the method we tried.