Megan Hart

Alex Mandi is known for wheel thrown white earthenware pots, fired using atmospheric techniques of either pit firing or saggar firing.

The pots to be saggar fired are burnished several times while they are drying. When they are bone dry 3-5 coats of terra-sigillata are applied then polished with a chamois. They are first bisque fired at a low temperature and then fired in a saggar at a higher temperature.

Pots to be pit fired are allowed to dry until leather hard and then burnished for the first time, after further drying the pots get a further burnishing until the surface is extremely smooth and shiny. Pots to be pit fired are not glazed before being bisque fired and then fired in a pit.