Raku Firing
Raku Fire April 6!
If you're unfamiliar, Raku is a way of glazing and firing pots. We'll fire them in a kiln, and when they are about 1800 degrees, we'll use tongs and carefully take out the glowing orange pots. Then they are put into a container with combustibles and we close the lid so they can smoke and hopefully do magic things. They'll still be warm when we take them out and dunk them in water.
It's hot and can be smokey and is a whole lot of fun, but understandably not very kid friendly. That being said, there isn’t a firm age limit for this workshop. If you think you child would be interested and is mature enough, and you want to do it with them, please do.
I'd suggest long sleeves, pants, closed toe shoes, and pulling your hair back. We'll have some heavy duty gloves.
We’re going to shoot for North Cove Beach, with Fiesta Island as a backup. I will post a map as things get closer.
Raku info
Raku is different from a pit fire because we will be glazing our things. That's what makes them really fun, but also less predictable. Neither form of firing is food safe or water tight, so you want to be thinking about making more decorative items ( houses, magnets, pendants, ornaments, lidded jars etc). You also want to think about space. Ideally each load will hold a piece from everyone person, and we’ll do 3-4 firings. I have little trays for your smaller items. We’ll have a bigger pit kiln and also the small raku kiln on site. They fill up fast, so pick 2 or 3 medium items (or multiple smaller) to fire first and if we have time and wood we’ll keep going until they’re all done.
Clay... A white stoneware is recommended. Bmix might be ok, but Bmix with grog is better. Super thin things could be problematic, but I have successfully fired paper clay. We're heating up the pots fairly quickly, taking them out when they're 1800+ degrees, then starting them on fire and quenching in water. It's pretty rough on the clay!
If you want to purchase your own Raku glazes, go ahead. Or you can pool your resources and share. They will go a long way. I'll have clear crackle (basically white), green, orange and some other fun ones. Wherever you don't glaze, it will be black. We'll glaze on site. I think that will be easier than trying to transport a bunch of glazed pots.
Different things to experiment with:
combustibles (hold onto that yard waste or wood chips)
Different containers to reduce in (save your soup cans)
Glazes, obvi
Waxing or taping areas to be black (can be done in advance)
We'll have some gloves, but you might want to bring a pair.