Terracotta Planters

Towards the end of March I made some terracotta planters with "ruffles" (Planters With Fancy Ruffles). I fired them, two at a time, in my electric kiln and tucked a small pot inside them so not to waste quite as much kiln space! Due to the wide and heavy base I fired them with great care and I also put a thin layer of grog on the kiln shelves to make it easier for the base to move to accommodate shrinkage in the firing.

Happily, there were no losses in the kiln and I had the cheery sight of orange-red terracotta smiling at me when I opened the kiln lid!

I made a quantity of smaller flower pots out of the scrap clay that was left over after making the planters. The small pots are always handy to have in the garden and the unglazed terracotta colour really looks just right with flowers. 

People worry about frost damage with terracotta, and I know this can be a problem, but I take care to fire mine slowly and quite high and we have not had any trouble with the pots we have had here sitting out all winter.

Next time I make larger planters I would like to fire them in the wood fired kiln, rather than in the electric. I wasn't able to on this occasion as time was a bit short and I was getting the wood fired kiln ready for a stoneware firing (which we have just completed).

Photo of firing the kiln by my pupil, Becky.

 

More about that one on my next post!