Steve Mitchell
Steve is from Western Virginia, his studio is in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He began a Stained Glass Studio in the old Roanoke Downtown Market in 1980, ‘Studio 103’ where he made stained glass windows for residential and commercial applications. He moved to Richmond to manage a claims operation for a large Insurance Company and stayed there till 1997 then moved back to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Steve worked on his ceramic art as a hobby until the spring of 2007 when he took early retirement and focused on pottery full-time. Since then his work has been shown in Museums and Galleries in North Carolina and Virginia where his work has won several awards including ‘Best Raku Form’ at the Mid-Atlantic Clay Conference in 2007. Steve joined the gallery during our holiday season in December, 2007 and became a member of the gallery in May, 2008.
Steve shows ceramics which are wood-fired, and fired with ferric chloride and sodium silicate:
Raku - Sodium silicate
It is fired like Raku however the pot is started as tall narrow cylinder then Sodium Silicate, saturated with Red Iron Oxide, is painted on the wet clay. When the Sodium Silicate is hard the cylinder is stretched into the vase shape cracking the surface of the clay. After bisque firing, a translucent silver nitrate glaze is applied and then the piece is fired to 2200 degrees followed by the Raku reduction technique.
Raku - Ferric chloride
This colorful effect is similar to Raku. The pots are fired to 1800 degrees, cooled and coated with Ferric Chloride, leaves, string and other combustibles are added to the surface, then the pot is covered with foil and fire to 1200 degrees and cooled. The temperature differences on the surface of the pot create the color effects. The black is from the carbons.
Wood fired
These vessels are made from Stoneware and fired in a kiln fueled with wood to cone 10 (2360 degrees), then salt is added which vaporizes in the atmosphere of the kiln adding a blush to the natural ash glazes. Except for the salt, this same process has been used for thousands of years, 1st in China and other early Asian cultures, then in Europe and Mediterranean civilizations.
Contact Information:
http://stevemitchellpottery.com/about.html for a series of images
540-525-4002