Gary's Third Pottery Blog

When the going gets tough, dragons gonna get going....

Gary's third pottery blog

WRITE TO ME! garyrith@yahoo.com Come see me! Open studio HERE! November 25-26 (11-4 each day); Aurora Art and Design, daily until 12/24; Cooperstown Art Assoc. daily until 12/24; Ellis Hollow Community Fair, 12/10; December 10, Little Red Wagon at the Space at Greenstar. All material on this blog unless stated otherwise is copyright Gary Edward Rith 2016

Monday, August 16, 2010

raku = pyromaniac party!

Raku is a fast fire process involving a lotta flames and drama. Martha had a raku party on Sunday, and there were maybe 12 of us there. Above, Chris and I mixed some glazes...

The kiln in this case is just a wire cage with ceramic insulation set atop bricks with a small burner blowing in fire....
I had 2 pieces in the first batch. The kiln goes up from zero to 1000 plus degrees in a half hour. You sorta look inside, see glowing pots and know they are ready to be taken out so you lift the lid off and pull out the glowing hot pots and then dumped into a trash can full of paper and sawdust for the smoky reduction (adds color and effects)






14 comments:

Kimberly said...

Wow Gary! Those are beautiful.. And you make much better dumpster fires than I do!!

Unknown said...

Completely awesome... gives new meaning to the term 'hot pot'. :)

Jill Brown said...

I love, love love to Raku! Yay to fire and beautiful colors and rich blacks!

ang design said...

yeh baby...RAKU woohoo!!! you make a mean glaze mr G... :P

~ Sil in Corea said...

Those pots are stunningly beautiful! The process is kinda like magic, too.

Unknown said...

That is awesome, and the pots are gorgeous!

Busy Bee Suz said...

This is super cool. I had no idea...

Michèle Hastings said...

RAKUUUUUU!!!! my favorite way to spend a day. Jeff and I both have raku kilns and we can't wait to fire them up again.

Reverend Awesome said...

Oh wow that's a fun firing party!
Love the results too!

cindy shake said...

I'm soooo jealous! You're a man who knows how to work a set of tongs ;o)

Reb said...

Love those vases Gary! What a neat process.

Unknown said...

Oh how fun! We love Raku parties! they are so way cool...! :) Love the pots...:)

Liz said...

raku!!!! gotta love it!

Anonymous said...

Wow!

Without the pottery and all, it looks like a camping trip: a bunch of folks standing around the fire with greenery everywhere. (Hurry up, Autumn!!)

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I am a full-time studio potter, sculptor, and dog walker, married to superhawt Missus Tastycake.