Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: process, production, soda-fired

Backing it up just a little… someone asked what “wadding” is when they say all of the mugs I was glazing and said that I still “needed to add the wadding.” So here’s a quick shot of the bottom of the mugs… similar to every piece put in a soda kiln. The little balls of “wadding” are made of a special clay mixture with alumina hydrate mixed in which makes the clay resistant to the soda atmosphere. The goal is to keep the pots elevated off the kiln shelves so they don’t fuse during the firing while the soda atmosphere in the kiln is “glazing” all of the pots. After firing, these little balls of clay will fall right off.

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