Raku is a crazy firing process that yields amazing results!

The bisque clay pieces get rapidly heated to 1850 F and then the red-hot pieces are removed from the kiln and placed in vessels that are filled with combustible material. Once the flames are established (yep… a few secs) the vessel is closed, starving the fire of oxygen. Any oxygen in the exposed clay gets sucked up by the fire and the smoke penetrates, leaving a black, rough and raw texture. At the end, the pieces get plunged into water to end the curing of the glaze and cool the piece.

Raku glazes can be super metallic and shiny. No two pieces are ever the same.

There is also “DRY” Raku, where the hot piece is decorated with horse hair or feathers, or really anything. I have seen someone use a hydrangea flower.

What’s so crazy about RAKU is that an already unpredictable process is made even more unpredictable! The glaze reaction is highly variable - it may be super metallic, rainbow colors or dull because it either got too much oxygen… or not enough. Plus, the risk of breakage is huge.

Raku pieces are NOT food safe and not vitrified, so vases are not waterproof.

WHY DO WE DO IT?!!!????

Who wouldn’t want to stand in the cold, breathe putrid smoke and risk obliterating their art, just for a little drama?

These guys show the range of Raku. The white with black squiggles is the dry raku with horse hair decoration.

I taped this pot up before I glazed it with all different glazes, including copper penny and rainbow. The black is where there was no glaze.

This is glaze is called copper penny. Here you see the variation of the glaze. The black is where there was no glaze.

This is crackle glaze. Love this!

This is also crackle glaze, with water spotting.

Look closely and you can see the cracks… this guy didn’t make it!