katrina piechnik • saggar pottery
Our local library entrance begins with a long upward-slanting sterile hallway. Terrazzo, stone, and plaster. All white. Glass-fronted recesses, locked against the well-heeled vandal and thief.
Two years ago we visited garden-themed mosaics displayed in this same hall. Today, the spotlight falls back to pottery. Americans love their crafts. So important in colonial America, the tradition of turning clay and glaze into objects of beauty and utility remains vibrant.
Katrina Piechnik is a local instructor, practicing a centuries-old skill of saggar pottery. Packing materials against pottery as it is fired to produce color and texture. From her creativity another generation of artisans are born, thrive, and continue. She opens our imagination.
Borrowed from UpInSmokePottery.com, a partial list of colorants:
Copper Carbonate – greens, blues, maroons, reds
Copper Sulfate – greens, blues, maroons, reds
Cobalt Carbonate – blues
Ferric Chloride – reds, yellows, oranges
Steel wool – blues, grays, pinks
Banana peels – greens, grays
Copper wire – can be red, black, blue, green, whites, depending on wire, thickness, and temperature of the fire
Sawdust – black, gray, blue-gray,
Cow pies – depends on what it ate; blacks, yellows, greens, grays, browns
Bacon Grease – brown/greens
Sodium Chloride – Orange, yellows, salmon, peach, gold
Coffee Grounds – browns, greens, blues
Nails – Neat blue/gray dots with halos
Leaves – brown/greens
Grass clippings – brown/greens
Red Iron Oxide – browns, maroons, rust
American Toolbox 