Results are in from the Banana Peel Experiment.
This was the only pot that came out of the barrel firing that had red on it. I am attributing the red to the banana peels for two reasons: one being it was the only pot in the barrel to have red color markings, and two being the manner in which I draped the peels over the pot. On the inside of the pot the red markings go down about 1/3 of the way and then stop, probably because that is the way I draped the peels.
The black marking on the front is a result of how I placed the pot in the barrel. Before loading the pots into the barrel I dumped about 8 inches of sawdust into it to create a nice soft bed to place the pots. This pot was laid into the sawdust at about a 45 degree angle, the black area being the part that was in direct contact with the sawdust. This area got the least amount of oxygen during the firing and produced the jet black color you see.
A couple other things to note about this pot is the rough, dry matte surface, and the banana peel shadow on the bottom side of the pot. Since the pot was not burnished prior to the bisque firing, it produced the matte surface. I will post a photo of the banana shadow on my Flickr site. You can get there by "My Photo Gallery" link on the right hand side of this page.
Anyway, I'm really pleased with my 3rd barrel firing and especially the banana peel experiment. I'm still going to have to try it again, but all I can say is "Bring on the Chicken bones!"
