Raku Firing
Raku firing, developed in Japan alongside the tea ceremony, two things very close to my heart!
A memorizing activity for our students, as it gives a real insight in to the ceramics process. Watching chemical changes happen quickly.
Quite a contrast from our consistent and safe electric kilns, an eye opener and a bit of a roller-coaster too!
Pieces are made from a clay especially designed to withstand the thermal shock, we prefer Scarva’s blend.
We give 2 kilos of clay and recommend that first timers split this over several pieces to avoid an ‘all eggs in one basket’ situation. Raku is an exciting but risky process, we have very few breakages or explosions as we have a good deal of experience now.
Anything can happen, something could crack with the shock, get dropped on it s way to the saw dust or on the rare occasion explode!
We guard against this by drying pieces out on top of the kiln first, usually getting started with some bit s glazed the day before.
Pots are bisc fired to 950 degrees leaving them nice and porous for lots of blackening in the bins. once they are glazed and dried we put them in to our lovely Raku Rocket kiln made by Northern Kilns - built stronger to last longer! (its true, we will never buy anything else)
Pots are heated up to 1000 degrees with a gas fired burner and then removed fro the kiln with tongs - an art form in itself. We only let our experienced students and staff do this, as it s a risky part of the process.
They are dropped in to a bin full of saw dust where they catch alight and get covered up to allow for a reduced oxygen atmosphere which encourages all kinds of wonderful chemical magic to happen.
Students doing Raku for the first time as best to watch the full process and understand the dangers, then with the right safety equipment they can begin to get more involved if they wish. This all happens outside in our generous neighbours yard space and make s for a fun and social occasion.
Here are some potters worth looking at :
https://www.andrewniblettrakupotter.co.uk/