Raku Anyone?

Yeah, I know it sounds like some kind of sauce........but it's not! It's a fun, kinda scary but REALLY cool way to fire pottery! It's awesome and we love it! Read on to learn more!

Let's start from the top...well technically the raw clay would be the top so let's start somewhere in the middle, okay? This is a vase I threw a while back and it had yet to be bisque fired (first firing) until last week. It's Little Loafer's clay and a few stripes....simple, plain, no frills......well I have plans for this puppy!

We found out that our former instructor, John King was having a Raku firing as a part of the Rutherford County Art Hop Tour and it was open to everyone! YAH!!!!

Okay, back to my rambling....... below you'll find a picture of our kiln partially loaded.....it's sad to say this is all we had to fire at the time....but there's some really good stuff in there.....

So, we bisque fire this load and wait for it to cool...I didn't get any pictures of it after it was done but I didn't miss the best part of this journey.......

This is what we found at John's place.....alot of cars means alot of people! There were alot of people there to fire their pieces and some were there just to observe! Let's get to the good stuff shall we?

To the right is a picture of my plain and simple vase only it got uglier after I painted it with some raku glazes. I used a glaze called Red Glass and trimmed it with yellow! Cute huh? She's ready for the heat now.....oh yeah! Yep, there's nothing better then being slathered in nasty slim and thrown into a raging hot fire! Uh Huh, you heard me right, so let's get on with it!


I'm gonna throw in some extra pictures that aren't of my stuff because....because....well because they're cool! is that okay with you all.....Good.....on we go!




This is the raku kiln, it's very simple looking but man is it smoking hot! There are pieces of pottery inside that kiln and I'm glad I'm not them! The fire is fed by propane at the base of the bricks.....it's like a flame thrower and the men tend to love it!

That's my cousin Gerald back there in the green shirt and that's John King to the left. John's daughter, Kiowa built this kiln her senior year in college for a project, she is also a pottery instructor at the community college and they are both VERY talented potters!

On we go!

Wow, look at that! That's my piece with the stripes.....I'm getting ready to take it out! It's been in there for about 15 minutes and it is so extremely hot! You'll understand just how hot in a minute....those pieces are red for a reason! Let's see what happens next!





See, I moved my vase over to the "nest", which is shredded paper! And it immediately caught fire.....that's how hot it is!

The fire and oxygen is what helps the glaze make the awesome colors you'll see later!



It's flaming up real nice so it's time to cover it up!



It's covered up to put out the fire and allow it to cool slowly.....it's called reduction! I'm not sure about the chemical processes behind reduction but it works so that's all that matters right?

Okay so lets see the finished product and some other very interesting pieces that were fired today!

Awesome colors, right?

Okay let's see some more!

This is one of Gerald's many pieces....it turned out so well! The outside is beautiful but the inside turned the most awesome shade of aqua green!

Another one of Gerald's! This glaze is called Orange Peel! Very cool!

This is a piece that Gerald dipped in a white crackle glaze.....these are taken out of the kiln and set to the side. You have to blow on it until you hear it start to make little chinky noises then it is placed in the nest and covered! Those black lines are the crackle effect!
This is Mom's plate! it's in Red Glass also.....kinda neat huh? I see a fish, do you?
This belongs to a nice lady named Peggy! She used several different glazes on this one? Isn't it beautiful? Can you see the greenish colored lady bug on the bottom left? And it really is there, it's not just me!
This is my Aunt Diane's fish....I think it turned out fabulous! All those nice colors!

And last but not least, this Gerald's pitcher....he glazed in Alligator! It had alot of purples in it!


Note: Some of these pieces come out looking kinda dull but that's only because of the sooty residue that is left behind. Usually a good dip in some water gives them a nice shiny luster!