Raku!

Brackers hosted a Raku firing event this past weekend and I want to share the results!

The first of two pieces that I raku fired is a 1 foot tall bottle form. When performing a raku firing, you superheat the piece of pottery to a couple thousand degrees, then while it is red hot and glowing you open the kiln and pick up the piece with tongs. Once you have a good grasp of the piece, you place the piece into a bin of combustible material and it instantly ignites into a fireball. While the fire is going, you place the lid on the bin to create a seal, all the oxygen is then burned out of the bin and the fire goes out, this creates a reduction environment. Once cooled, you pull the pot out of the bin and quench it in a water bath, solidifying the metallic results. As this was a rather large piece, you can imagine how nervous I was to drop the piece when it was molten hot and break it, but luckily all went well and I got a great piece out of it.

 

 

 

Another view of this piece is on the right.

 

 

 

 

The second piece of pottery I Raku fired was a platter. I especially like the teal tones that came out on the piece.

I hope you enjoyed these two pieces!

-Mark Barta