Raku Fire!

I did some raku fire earlier this week, and wanted to share a bit of the process with you. Raku is something I've done a few times, but have only recently started to do seriously.  It's a very low fire method - reaching about 1,800 F.  Because of this, the clay does not fully vitrify, and therefore is not waterproof.  So it is not recommended for functional pieces.  However, it is great for decorative or sculptural pieces.  Since I'm exploring those more now, I'm also exploring raku more.  

Here's a snapshot of a piece in the kiln.  You can see his eye glaring out at us as he's getting heated to red hot.  After he is red hot, it's on to next steps.

The round kiln is in the background.  Pieces are still inside, getting heated up.  In the front are prepped "reduction buckets."  These are exactly what they look like - trash cans filled with newspaper. Once the pieces come out, they are placed in the reduction buckets.  The newspaper will ignite on contact, and the lids will get put on.  It's called reduction, because, as the paper burns, it also burns off the oxygen inside the bucket - reducing the oxygen content.  This affects the glazes, as does the soot from the burning paper.  

Here we're opening up the kiln, and getting ready to take pieces out and place them in the reduction buckets.  Of course, I've got tongs, because even though 1,800 F is considered low fire, that's still rather warm.

Here we go - into the bucket!

Woosh! The paper lit up on contact. When I put on the lid, all that soot, flame, and reduction will interact with the glazes and bare clay to create the traditional raku effects.

This guy is covered in the Rainbow Gloss glaze.  This one needs to get from raku kiln into the reduction bucket as fast as possible.

I called this guy crackle man.  He's very rough - intentionally so.  When creating him, I sculpted his face on a closed form, then slapped it to cave in the nose.  Afterwards, I opened the mouth and stretched him out even further.  During the raku process, his left cheek blew off.  I left it rough as I feel it added to the look.  The white parts are glazed clear crackle, and the black parts are bare clay.

Only the lips here are glazed, with the rainbow gloss.  All the rest is the bare clay, which is a light stoneware that turns black in raku.

Here is the snail, being bashful.  His shell is rainbow gloss on one side, bare clay on the other (so black).  His body is clear crackle.

Snail was convinced to show off his gloss.

I hope you enjoyed the description of the process as well as the finished pieces!