The Raku Process
Raku starts with fire, a hot propane gas flame licking the clay pots.
Raku is about speed, pulling glowing cherry-red pots from the kiln, with no time to cool.
Raku is about more fire, a post-firing reduction. A trash can filled with combustibles igniting from the heat of the pot, covered and smoking...
Bisqued pottery is glazed. Bisqued pots have been fired once already, transforming them from dry clay to a harder, porous piece, ready to soak up glaze. Glazes are mixtures of minerals that will melt and turn to a glassy coating on the pot.
After the pots heat up, the glazes bubble and gloss over. When the time is right, the glowing pots are carefully pulled from the kiln with long iron tongs.
Crackle glazed pots are allowed to cool, pinging in the air. Metallic glazed pots are immediately put into the reduction chamber filled with combustible material, such as newspaper or sawdust.
The hot pots are placed into the combustibles, igniting the chamber with rising flames. The lid is placed on the container, and the flame is starved of oxygen, smoldering and smoking.
This starts the reduction cycle, and the flame searches for oxygen, finding it in the glazes and clay itself and altering their appearance. The smoke fuses with any unglazed parts of the pottery, turning it black. Raku potters dream in black negative space for design.
The pots cool and everyone gathers to look at the results of the firing. There is still much work to be done.
Gail chips off the naked raku glaze on a scrafitto piece. The pot will be scrapped, brushed, cleaned, and treated with an acryllic coating. It will be beautiful.