Smoke Fired Oak Leaf Pot

For the External Design Museum project at college I was inspired by the Martin Brothers who are hugely influenced by nature. So I had a bare pot and didn't want to do a plain glaze on it so I glazed the inside clear and then took it home to be smoke fired in a baking tray. I gathered some oak leaves on my way home and stuck them to the pot using double sided sticky tape, then I used a sponge dipped it in some slip resist liquid used for rakuing and dabbed around the edges of the leaves. Then I took the leaves and the tape off and placed it in the baking tray with sawdust and newspaper piled around it and lit it. Once I was happy that the smoke had done its job I waited for it to cool off before cleaning it with a cloth and water. I am very pleased with the results as the Martin Brotheres were influenced by nature and their surrounding where I have actually used nature to create the markings on the pot.

Burning away

Cleaned

Detail