Daniel Madalena

MATERIAL/TECHNIQUE:
Revival of extinct art: After over a decade of trial & error, the clays and slip have been relocated and the secrets of painting and firing techniques have been rediscovered. These techniques have been most difficult to recover, since there are no modern traditions that maintained the secrets of high temperature organic pit-firing. The clays & soils are proportioned exact., hand coiled. After dry process, the pot is polished with stone then painted. The paint, made of plant extracts, soak into the vessel surface before firing. The painted decorations must survive the high temperatures, leaving a design of black carbon trapped within the polished surface of this special white slip. The success of this process depends on controlling the availability of oxygen around the vessel during firing. Every pot is hand coiled and hand painted; every piece is high-temperature pit-fired.