Pit Fired Pottery


Firing clay vessels in a pit is another ancient method of firing pottery in many countries around world. Again, there are many, many variations! Natalie’s method begins by placing her bisque fired clay pots in a pit which is about 8 feet long by 5 feet wide. She layers the pots with wood chips, hay, ferns, copper wires, salts, organic material such as banana and orange peels. The final layer are larger pieces of wood and newspaper. She douses it with lighter fuel, gets a big flame going, then covers the whole pit with large sheets of tin. She allows some small air holes so a draft is created to keep the embers smoldering. She uncovers the pit after about a day, then unearths her beautiful organic pots. This process is fun and exciting! She never knows quite what will happen, and gives over the process to the wind and fire. As a further note, she loves doing pit fire with a community of people, the more the merrier! See Natalie’s Pit Fired Pottery.