
Linda Heisserman

Linda Heisserman
I love “throwing” on the wheel. It is meditative for me….All my pieces start out on the wheel. When they have dried some, I trim them and set them aside for the next step.
I hand carve each piece using a single edged razor blade and dental tools. The razor blades give me a much more sweeping carve then a regular clay carving tool. I start carving when the piece is leather hard. I have to carve or perforate the piece at this stage so as not to have create cracks. I continue to shape as the piece dries. In the end, I use a green scrubby to smooth off the sharp edges. For me, each piece seems like a miniature sculpture. I like how the light plays off the surface whether it is glazed or not.
The pieces are then placed in the bisque kiln and fired until they are the hardness of a red clay pot used for flowers. In this stage, the piece is porous enough to absorb the liquid glaze and solid enough to not melt when dipped into the liquid glaze.
The piece is then put into a gas reduction kiln along with about 80 other pieces, some big some small. The kiln is fired to 2300 degrees over a fourteen hour period. It is then allowed to cool for another fourteen hours. The pieces which emerge from the kiln have gone through a lot of structural and chemical changes. They are a joy to make, hold and use.
Contact:
Email | Phone: 541-419-1500