LINDA & CHARLIE RIGGS
Internationally Renowned Saggar Masters
WORKSHOPS IN ARIZONA April 2005

TUCSON Apr 23-24
PHOENIX Apr 30-May 1

FEES: 1 day $90 / 2 days $160

The RIGGS' WORK CAN BE VIEWED
At The Laloba Ranch website
www.lalobaranch.com
click on artists, riggs, gallery

This remarkable team, who have become universally recognized as preeminent masters of fine saggar fired pots, will be in Arizona in April 2005 to conduct two weekends of full participation workshops In their techniques of Saggar, Naked Raku Pop-Off, Naku Slip-Glaze,Ferric Chloride in Tin Foil, Ferric and Horsehair, 7-Layer Raku

The Riggs' are very kind and gentle teachers who are most generous with their expertise. I know that any participant's experience is sure to be an enjoyable and rewarding one. You can view full details at this website: www.claywoman.net or email for info to: barbarakobler@claywoman.net
LOCATIONS & ACCOMMODATIONS:

TUCSON AREA: At the studio of Barbara Kobler, located 15 miles from the airport south of city center in the suburb or Green Valley 1/4 mi. east of I-19. There are 3 motels within 10 minutes and a few free rooms in homes of local clay artists.

PHOENIX: At the studio of Mishy Lowe, located on northwest side of Phoenix 1 mile off of I-17 at Happy Valley Road. There are several inexpensive motels within 15 minutes.

ARTISTIC TECHNICAL DETAILS
A Letter From Linda and Charlie Riggs


"Hi everyone,
We are looking forward to meeting you at the workshop.

After thinking over our plans, and the time span in which we have to work, we have come up with a few suggestions that will help move the workshop along and give you a chance to prepare for it.

What will be covered in the 2 day workshop:

We will plan on doing saggar firing, naked raku--pop off and slip and glaze, ferric chloride tin-foil saggars, horsehair and ferric, and also Charlie's layered raku if we have time. At least a demo of Charlie's layered if there isn't time to fire it.

1 Day participants will be able to do the saggar firings, naku pop-off and possibly tin foil ferric chloride.

What to Bring: It is vital that your saggar containers be prepared ahead of time.

Quantity and Type of Saggar Containers to Bring: The containers will be the outer “shell” into which we will place the pot, sawdust and chemicals during the firing process. You will need several of your own to fit the bisqued pots you are bringing.

Making the Saggers: Our sagger containers are thrown out of Soldate 60, but any raku clay will do. You want about an inch of airspace between the saggar wall and your pot.

They are made in deep bowl shapes and are about 3/8" to ½” thick. When the two halves are placed together it should be 4" higher and wider than the pot to be fired inside it. Typical diameters would be 8", 10",12", etc. Standardizing the sagger diameters helps with replacements when they break. The saggers are bisque fired to cone 06. Hand builders can use slump or hump molds to build their saggar containers or make a drum shape using slabs.

How to Prepare the Pots for Saggar Firing: When using most of the firing techniques that we will be teaching, the best results are seen on smooth polished clay. That can be accomplished by hand burnishing or applying terra sig when bone dry and then polishing them with pantyhose or a soft cotton cloth. Please bring burnished or terrsig-polished bisque ware to experiment with during the workshop. Because of the limitations of time and space, we recommend you limit the size and numbers of pieces for a 2-day workshop to (a) 10 pieces that are 4 inches in diameter or (b) 8 pieces that are 6 inches in diameter. By bringing smaller pieces you will get a chance to try more techniques at the workshop. Any extra pieces can be fired when everyone gets a chance to fire all their required pieces. If you are attending only one day then decrease your quantity.

How to Prep Pots for Charlie's 7-Layer Raku Technique: Pots to be used for this method are made out of raku clay and don’t need to be burnished or terra sigged. Bring at least 1 piece for this technique in the above size ranges.

Clay Bodies
We recommend you use any clay body that you have successfully rakued in the past. For the best results with the techniques of saggar firing and naked raku, a smooth clay body is preferred. We recommend Laguna’s Miller 10-T (a very smooth clay with good thermal resistance properties), Laguna B-mix 5 or 10 for the pots to be saggar fired, and for Charlie's layered raku any raku clay. For best results from the techniques, the pots should be burnished or terrasig-polished to at least a satin finish. Terra sig instructions are included at the end of this epistle. Barbara my have some idea about clays in Arizona that are similar to what I have mentioned above. (Miller 10-T is not distributed by Laguna in the West. I used their EM 220 at the Riggs' workshop in Laloba with great success.)

Making the Pots
Extra care should be taken in the final throwing steps and during trimming to make the pot as smooth as possible. When the pots reach the bone-dry stage, spray on terra sigillata.* We use a Paasche "H" airbrush with a #3 or # 5 tip to spray on three coats of the terra sigillata. While it is still slightly damp, buff the pot with a soft cloth or pantyhose. The cycle of spraying and buffing is repeated until the desired shine is attained. At this point the pot can be placed in the bisque kiln and fired to cone 08.

*Note: When preparing a pot for saggar firing latex gloves are recommended during the final smoothing and terra sig process to prevent finger prints that will show up on the final fired ware. Pots that will be used for naked raku and horse hair raku can be dipped or painted with sig.

I think that just about covers everything. I know some of it sounds really picky but after years of workshops we have found the workshops run so much smoother and people are happier when they have the guidelines ahead of time.

We are really looking forward to our time together.

We will be happy to help in any way we can.

See you in April,

Sincerely,
Charlie and Linda Riggs

Have More Questions?

Techniques and Preparations email the Riggs' fireclay@earthlink.net

Reservations email barbarakobler@claywoman.net


Charlie's Home Brew Sig' Recipe:
I used to think that making terra sig' was a big production and you had to have lots of equipment (hydrometers, wine siphons, graduated cylinders marked in marked millimeters, centimeters, parts per million and billion.....) Yeh, right. Sure you can make the "Perfect Sig" that is smoother than glass using all that stuff but you can pretty much do the same with none of it!

This sig' recipe is for all of us non-technophiles and first timers.
1) Crack open a cold one.
2) Dump in 3.5 gallons of water in a bucket.
3) Stir in a tablespoon of sodium silicate and/or soda ash.
4) Mix in 15 lbs of XX sagger or ball clay and put the bucket up on a table.
5) Finish your cold one and wait a day.
6) Pour or siphon off the top 1.5 gallons. And use it.
That's it. Dip it, spray it, brush it.



P.S.