Raku Firing

Today we did our first Raku firing.

 

Raku firing is done quite differently to a regular firing, as id is generally done outside, using a gas kiln rather than electric.

The pre-glazed pieces  (using a special Raku Glaze) are placed into the kiln and brought up to around 1000 degrees – but, ours was really done by watching the glazes change through the viewing hole on the kiln, as different glazes take different times to react to the heat.

Once the pieces are up to the correct temperature, they are placed gently into a metal bin full of sawdust and combustibles.  These combustibles then stick to the glaze, burn away and form interesting patterns.

Extra sawdust is added to cover, then the lid is placed on and the burning allowed to take place.

Once removed from the metal bin, the pieces were dunked into cold water and set on the grass to cool down.

Then it was time to clean off the carbon to reveal the true colour underneath.

Raku firing is quite a faff and I haven't yet decided if I like the uncertainty of the results yet or not!