6. Soda Fire Artist: Jenna Gianni

The Interview: 
​Soda Firing topic: Residual Soda-Fired Sculptures

​About Jenna:
"I am an artist and maker from Frederick, MD. My time in clay is split between sculptural and functional work inspired by patterns, textures, and forms found in an around the ocean."

What inspires your soda-fired sculptures?               
"My soda fired sculptures are a study in the growth processes and environmental effects that add patterns, shapes, and textures to natural objects. Found specimens such as sea shells and coral pieces serve as a catalysts for form and surface explorations that celebrate the inspiring intricacies of nature."

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Why do you prefer a residual soda firings for your sculptures? 
"Although the addition of soda can add to the textural qualities of my sculptures, and I do utilize added soda for some firings, I found that through the residual soda firings, I was able to achieve the perfect color pallet to resemble the colors found in the shell and coral pieces that I was attempting to capture. Beautiful oranges and bright pinks, the subtle hint of soda left trapped in the kiln walls, was all that was needed to bring out these colors on the porcelain clay body."

What clays are you using? 
"I mostly use Standard 257 clay body. It’s a porcelain clay body that really captures the flashing in the residual firings in such a beautiful way. I tested many other bodies, but this one is my go-to. It also throws really well, so I can use it to create functional work that I use to help fill the kiln! In the image below, the base of this nest piece is made from the 257 porcelain, no glaze was added, and it was fired in residual soda, creating a beautifully flashed color all over. Another material I use is commercial casting slip. In the residual soda firings this clay body produces a fantastic orange flashed and opalescent surface. The casting slip is drizzled on a plaster surface, kind of like making a funnel cake! The pieces are then scraped off when stiff and create these fun little accents that I use throughout my sculptures. You can see these pieces in the piece below (the bright orange pieces)."

Could you share more info on your use of layering shino, copper read, and salt glazes? 
"Although I totally love the subtle effects of the soda on the bare clay surface, I am a sucker for glaze and have done a lot of testing on the effects of glaze in the soda kiln. Having fired a gas reduction kiln in my early experiences in grad school I narrowed in on a few glazes that I really loved on my functional pottery, a shino, a celadon glaze, and a copper red. When I switched to soda I decided to try these same glazes in the soda kiln, heavily glazed, just as I would in the gas kiln. I wanted to see what they could do, so I played with application and layering, breaking some rules. What if shino wasn’t first? How would copper red look over the celadon glaze? What if I sponged on glazes. I found some really fun and exciting results this way that were giving me the colors and textures that I was looking for especially in the surfaces inspired by the different collected shells."

What are some of the main glaze application techniques you use? 
"I have a glossary of sorts of glazes/application methods that give me the results I’m looking for on a particular piece. The basic glazes I use are a shino, a copper red glaze, and a yellow salt glaze. Then I utilize a certain application technique which can produce some really unique results. For example a copper red glaze, slip trailed over a shino, or the yellow salt glaze sponged on, the shino glaze dipped then wiped away. The ability to layer and apply in different ways gave me a lot of flexibility without having to use 10 different glazes. The image below shows the yellow salt glazed poured on and then wiped away in certain areas, then thin application results in a bit of a rough texture as well as an orangey color that also reveals some of the flashed clay body."

How frequently do you add soda into kiln to keep a consistent residual soda firing look?
"I find it’s best to have at least one or two regular soda firings in between the residual firings to allow for the depositing of new soda material inside the kiln."  
 
Are you adding wood into your propane soda firings? 
"I do add wood, but it’s a pretty light application outside of the reduction portion of the firing. When the kiln is reaching about cone 012, I begin adding some small pieces of wood to bridge into a reducing atmosphere, I ramp up the wood addition to 1 pieces every 10 minutes or so through body reduction and then I add as needed/wanted for the remainder of the firing."

What’s a typical firing schedule for your residual soda firings?
"I will start with a firing schedule that is pretty closely modeled after my experience firing a gas reduction kiln. A medium to heavy reduction period from 012 – 06 using wood and damper movement to change the levels of the atmosphere. Then I take a slow rise to cone 10! Although I’m not adding soda, I still wad all work as there is a slight depositing of soda from the walls, shelves etc."
 
Are you using more than one firing atmosphere (heavy soda, wood, electric) to fire your sculptures? 
"My firing schedules/atmospheres are now fairly consistent. Rather than changing the firing to get the surfaces I want, I tend to change up the glaze layering and application techniques to produce the desired results, this way I can fire all the work in one firing rather than having several different firing types to produce the individual finishes."

Are there any glaze recipes you are willing to share along with an image of what glaze looks like?
"Sure! All are ones that were shared with me or just the studio glazes at the studio I worked in. It was important for me to find glazes that were stable and readily available, so that I didn’t have to purchase special materials or have the expense of making glazes that I couldn’t use for anything but the sculptures. Some of these decisions were more economical than artistic, but the results worked!"

Glaze Recipes:

Dresang Shino (Cone 10)         
                                                       Weight %
Minspar                                          34.3
Australian Spodumene                    29.4        
Nepheline Syenite                           14.7
EPK                                                9.8
Soda Ash                                         7.8
OM4                                               16.4
 
Pete’s (Pinnell) Cranberry Red (Cone 10)
                                                        Weight %
Custer Feldspar                              73.8
Gerstley Borate                              10.2        
Whiting                                           11.1
Flint                                                4.9
Copper Carbonate                          0.3
Tin Oxide                                        1

Yellow Salt (Cone 10)
                                                       Weight %
Nepheline Syenite                           63.9
Dolomite                                         21.1
Zircopax                                          16
OM4                                               4.3
Bentonite                                        4
Red Iron Oxide                                1.12

Find out more about Jenna by visiting her on her website and instagram page.

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