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Carla Thorpe
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The joy in pit firing for me is the unknown. The process is fairly labor intensive. I have recently been firing my boxes in a fifty-five gallon, steel drum. I usually stretch a Chore Boy (copper scouring pad) around my pots and occasionally I will place salt soaked corn husk next to the pots. The pots are then wrapped in newspaper to hold all this in place. The pots are then placed into the drum cradled with wood shavings and various chemicals. I build a fire on top and as the coals burn down into the shavings the pots fume. The firing takes about eight hours. I wait until the pots cool to unload. There are always many surprises to this serendipitous way of firing. These pots are purely sculptural. They will not hold liquid however small treasures; jewelry and notes might be found inside my boxes.