Another experiment from my last barrel firing. This is the vase that I wrapped steel wool around the bottom third of the pot.
Before placing the pot in the barrel I filled the interior with sawdust. My professor at Viterbo University, Gerrard Ferrari, commented that he preferred a black interior to compliment the colors on the outside of the pot. My previous pots were white and light gray on the interiors.
Once the vase was filled with sawdust I placed it in the barrel right side up in the sawdust at a slight angle. Most of the steel wool was surrounded in the bed of sawdust.
I thought the steel wool would produce some really interesting patterns on the pot and I also thought the patterns would produce blacks and grays--black where there was air between the pot and the wool and gray where the wool was pressed against the pot. Well, it didn't turn out that way.
The reddish line markings one third up the pot is where the steel wool ended. I'm thinking perhaps the steel wool created air pockets that produced the pinks and reds and just above that is the black produced by the top layer of the sawdust. I'm happy with the pot and will continue to experiment with the wool.
