I want to make myself a kiln god. From the very limited information my searches came up with, I read that the Japanese believe you must sacrifice something to the kiln god in each firing. My idea is then to purposely make a big air pocket in a little sculpture, and then fire it in the kiln.
Trouble with that idea is glaze kilns, as the bits can get into the glaze on pieces.
Anyway, I am interested in more information on what a kiln god is. I have seen many making dragons, but is that the only type of kiln god? What do they mean? What do they embody? Ideas for mine?
I really, really don't think having a pot blow up in the kiln is in anyway a good sacrifice - in fact, I would consider it an insult to the gods. I piece of cookie I could understand...
I have seen every sort of kiln god you can imagine. One of the studio's is a fat naked lady with a big grin on her face. Mine is a dragon - a rather tiny one but I like him.
I have never seen or heard of a sacrifice being made other than pouring a bit of plum wine on the god during a group potluck firing and I'm not all that sure the pour was intended as a sacrifice...
Kiln god goes outside of the kiln on top or near the door (door guard?). You want it where it is not in the flame/rain(outdoor gas/wood)/direct heat but you want it visible - you treat the kiln god as you want you pots to be treated. But hell Marianne - you're talking to someone that used to walk around the chair and tell the computer what a good girl she was when she had inexplicable program crashes...
I actually have had my big kiln god under wraps for months now. I'm afraid to unwrap it since I can't do anything with it if it needs it. Probably I should at least put a damp sponge in one of the layers and hope that keeps it workable.
It strikes me that a kiln god should incorporate the 4 elements - earth of course, fire, water and air. A dragon clearly covers earth, fire and air. I can think of nothing that represents all 4 (unless water dragons fly...). Hmmmm a dragon fly would work perfectly if only we could get them to breathe fire ;)
Having made dragons for years, I don't think that they would make reliable kiln gods. I don't know what goes on inside the kiln at high temperature when I've got dragons in there, but often they come out in a different shape to the one I intended - I guess that the clay must flex, slump, distort and the dragons take advantage of it to give me surprises. Whiskers move around, claws twitch and tails snake around in unexpected ways. So, if it's surprises you're after, go for dragons.
I've always had the urge to make a fiery dragon with a sort of cigarette lighter ignition system to bring flames out of its mouth. Just how to do this has escaped me so far - any ideas anybody?
There's even one dragon which is invisible, because it's shy and doesn't want to be seen - I have a chart with pictures of many kinds of Chinese dragon on it. This one is listed but there isn't any illustration!
Of course, dragons eat organic dragonflies, don't they? Once upon a long time ago I made a dragon in the act of catching a dragonfly, but it all turned out to be just too fragile for words. Mind you, the lustres on all the scales and wings really sparkled and looked great. Sorry to say that it got broken almost as soon as it was finished.
As for kiln gods, I have a routine. After packing and starting the kiln running, as I leave the workshop I blow the kiln a kiss. Silly things we do, don't we?
As you can tell, I'm back at work and feeling better
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