Workshop for Sawdust & Saggar Firing

February 21 & 22, 2026

We will meet and prepare our pieces on Saturday @ 10 AM.  We'll get the fires going and will unload Sunday @ 3 PM. workshop location is 4140 Senna Drive, Las Cruces.

Registration is limited to 30 participants. All pieces will need to be bisque fired prior to the alternative firing. You may make up to two pieces, one for each process 6”x 6” max size. 

Cost for this workshop is $10 if paid by check or $12 if paying online here. Deadline for paying online is Saturday, February 14th, 2026

This special event is only for PAID IN FULL MEMBERS.

On Thursday, January 8, from 5-6:30 Jan Archey will be at the DACC Ceramics Studio, 2345 E Nevada, and will have available clay and terra sig, as well as instructions on how to prepare your piece. You may bring $10 cash or a check to pay for the workshop.  There will be a repeat on Tuesday, January 20 from 5-6:30.

 If those times do not work, contact Jan    archeyjan@gmail.com  or  575.640.6185

You only need to come to one of these sessions if you have not done this process before, pay for the workshop, or if you want to learn more.

Click Below to buy a workshop ticket

To prepare for the firing, make your pieces ahead of time. We will explore a primitive sawdust firing and a saggar firing. Construction of pieces is similar. 

To make your pieces, smooth and light-colored clay is best. Most people prefer ^5-6 clay, but most any clay can be used (you can even use that bag of ‘mystery clay.’ The piece must be bisque fired and usually we bisque fire to ^010 - ^08.  If you do not have the ability to bisque fire, you may bring your DRY pieces to the DACC Ceramics Studio on February 17.

You may leave them at the studio door if the studio isn’t open. If you need clay, the Guild has recycled ^5/6 Empty Bowls clay which you may purchase at $15 for a generous 22# chunk or you may purchase less at .70/pound. Clay will be available January 8, and 20. You may make up to two pieces, one for each process…6”x 6” max size. 

Smooth organic shapes take the subtilties of the fire from additions to the sawdust and the additions we put into the saggar. A saggar is nothing more than a container to protect a piece from firing and to create a closed atmosphere of combustibles that upon burning, will permeate into the clay. Saggars may be made of clay, a flowerpot, popcorn can, aluminum foil, etc. For our firing, we will use two layers of aluminum foil. We will tumble stack the pieces in my gas kiln.

An easy organic shape to make is to shape a slab around a balloon and paddle the form. While the pot is damp/leather hard, it is buffed (burnished) with smooth stone, back of a spoon, your hand, another smooth object, or a piece of blue Walmart bag. This smooth surface allows the combustibles during the saggar or sawdust firing to go into the surface of the clay. To have a beautiful satin sheen, one paints Terra Sigillata (also available in January) onto the piece and buffs the smooth parts of the piece to produce a sheen. More about Terra Sig in a following email. If you make your piece before you get the Terra Sig, keep it tightly covered to keep it leather hard and you can complete this process when you get the Terra Sigillata. 

In the sawdust firing we will place the pots in a trough ‘kiln’ and interwork sawdust and other combustibles around the pots. Whatever the combustibles do during the firing, those colors and smoke will naturally decorate the piece. In a later handout, there will be a listing of natural things you can place around your piece.