Raku

Anticipation was building at the start of day for the final stage of the ceramics course. Our sculptures  had been fired overnight in the kiln ready for the glazing and Raku firing process. 

We used 3 glazes -  transparent, red and copper - which can be poured over or brushed on.  The pieces are fired in a Raku kiln then the pots are removed at their maximum temperature, around 900 degrees C. They are put into a reduction chamber containing some sort of combustible material, such as wood chips, then covered and left for around 30 minutes. The thick smoke produced changes the colours and patterns of the glaze which are totally unpredictable. The final stage is dunking in water and scrubbing the ash away. It was all systems go during this and we had to be organised, don heat resistent gloves and work quickly as a team. It was so exciting uncovering our pieces and seeing how they had turned out. Areas that were not covered in glaze turn black making a contrast to the glazed areas. The copper was the most unpredictable resulting in green,  red,  brown and even blue tonings. Two of my pieces came out with wonderful green and copper colours. The diving lady pictured here was made from a sheet of clay which was rolled over wadded up newspaper to form the parts. I wanted to add a couple of extras but it won't let me (again).