primalmommy on sat 28 apr 07
I had to laugh, reading Deb's take on raku. This week I bought a great
weed burner, and just to try it out, decided to fire up the raku kiln I
had left untouched behind my studio for two years or more. I evicted the
spiders, got hubby to help, glazed some odd bisque, and fired the thing
up.
Now I remember why I haven't used the raku kiln for so long. I can't get
the smell out of my nose, either. Or the metallic taste out of my mouth.
I wonder what I breathed...Lead? Barium? Whatever it was it always feels
different from good old wood smoke.
I singed my hair in front, sliced my thumb washing something with a
glaze crater, and nothing I made looks worth the time we spent. I
brought it in and it even stinks up my kitchen. Now I have to go out and
cover the whole works with a tarp before it rains, and I've filled the
bathtub with the most obnoxious perfumed bath oil, hoping to cut the
smell.
Some folks make lovely raku, but I am not among them. In fact, after my
function-above-all brainwashing at school ;0) I can barely imagine what
to make for decorative purposes only. Raku has its plusses... it
certainly is something you can do in the back yard with a cobbled set
up, and the results are immediate and exciting. But the older I get, the
more I am willing to wait for results... (and the less I am willing to
abuse my lungs!)
Yours
Kelly in Ohio.. wondering whether I can get my little kiln-carcass with
the sawed burner hole hot enough to salt or soda in. I know it wouldn't
last long, but I hauled it home from an abandoned house on a sled, just
before the wrecking ball showed up. Easy come, easy go.
http://www.primalpotter.com
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Lee Love on sun 29 apr 07
On 4/29/07, primalmommy wrote:
> Some folks make lovely raku, but I am not among them. In fact, after my
> function-above-all brainwashing at school ;0) I can barely imagine what
> to make for decorative purposes only.
PM,
I have never made decorative raku. My two favorite
shapes are paddled pilgrim flasks and tea/latte bowls. The fat
white glaze I use looks really nice, with either resist decoration or
a little copper brushed on the outside. With the resist, you get a
nice contrast between the bare clay body that turns black in reduction
and the white glaze. If you don't quench in water, the vessel are
generally water tight.
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
http://potters.blogspot.com/
"To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts." -
Henry David Thoreau
"Let the beauty we love be what we do." - Rumi
sacredclay on sun 29 apr 07
I LOVE raku! I love the smell and the whole process of it. It involves
all four major elemnts; Water, Fire, Earth, and Air. Everytime I do
raku, I feel like I just had great sex. It lasted longer too!
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