The story of the shot and saggar fired pieces is pretty simple. I had run out of ideas so I figured we should take them out and shoot them. (We being my brother, sister, and cousin whose ranch we used for shooting.) I am no longer a good marksman so my brother does the shooting. The clay has to be wet, as a fired piece would just shatter. We borrowed a little .22 single shot rifle from another cousin. He included some bullets with birdshot that proved to be perfect, especially for the smaller houses.

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The first couple of houses we shot at the rifle range with our dad's old deer rifle. They were pretty interesting but the holes were too big for smaller things. We also used Dad's shotgun once and it really destroyed a smaller house. Interesting, though.

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Figuring out how to finish these buildings led to a tutorial in saggar firing from a fellow ceramist. This is the technique used the most, although raku and soda firing have yielded interesting results.

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Saggar firing means putting bisque pieces in a clay container that is filled with combustible materials such as sawdust, hay, paper, leaves, etc. and firing in an electric kiln. To add color or interest, oxides like cobalt, manganese, copper and iron are applied to the bisque piece--sprinkled on or put on cheesecloth, steel wool, paper, etc. and wrapped around the piece. At times I wrap the piece in the newsprint I work on that has the oxide residue and burned paper residue from the last firing.

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There is no predicting the outcome, so some are retired if I think they would benefit from additional oxides and carbon from burned combustibles.

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With the news coverage of destruction in Gaza and Ukraine, all I could see were burned buildings so that is what I went for. Something will rise from the ashes but I don't know what.

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It is always a surprise to see what happens to a piece when it is shot. As long as my brother is willing and the ranch is available for shooting we will keep it up. As most kids know, it is fun to blow things up.

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