The process of raku involves heating the glazed pots up very quickly-up to 1800F within an hour or so. (In contrast, our cone 6 wares take nearly 14 hours to reach just over 2100F.) Once the pots have reached temperature and the glazes have matured, they are removed from the kiln while they are red hot and glowing, and placed into "reduction chambers." In the reduction chamber, the flames that are ignited by the heat of the pot are snuffed out when the lid is sealed onto the barrel. This starves the fire of oxygen and creates the brilliant lustre effects on the surface of the pot, and the smoke in the chamber turns any unglazed areas a rich black.
The following quote on raku comes from Paul Soldner:
"Raku offers western culture insight into new
concepts of beauty. We have long admired balanced symmetry, unblemished
surfaces, and rigid machine-like control as examples of perfect craftsmanship.
Raku, in contrast, emphasizes asymmetry, the beauty of the accidental and the
spontaneous, and the value of, and appreciation for, organic naturalness
undominated or completely controlled by us."
First the metal barrels are filled with combustibles. Today we used newspaper
When the red hot (1800F) piece is put into the barrel, flames erupt.
When the pieces are removed from the barrels, we cool them quickly
This large bowl was donated to ArtReach for auction in 2009
