C Redding on wed 26 nov 97
Greetings fellow potters! A while back I asked for some advice on the
matt glazes with Raku. Rethinking the question I had posed, I wish to
redefine this area of questioning. I am curious as to the Raku clay bodies,
firing temps, and post firing techniques used in your pottery. ie, when
you Raku, during the post firing reductions, what combustibles do you
use, how much, damp or dry? Do you let it air cool or do you spray the
pieces with water? Any advice is welcomed, as I am a student potter
trying to get a grasp in this area. Thanks!!!
cookie redding
cr7696@ark.ship.edu
Marcia Selsor on fri 28 nov 97
Cookie,
In Montana we use more straw than anything for combustibles although
we sometimes use newspaper because the wife of one of my students
works at the local newspaper.
In firing raku mat glazes I go to 1850F. I fire large slabs upright
remove them from the kiln and lay them face down on straw because I like the
straw patterns I can get this way. The straw is usually dry
because we store it in a box. I cover the slabs with a large metal
bucket and sometimes the slab's edges stick out because it is bigger than the
bucket. This causes some really wide variation in color which I like also.
Raku is fun because using the same glaze over agian and again and firing to
the same temperature, you never know what a gust of wind will do to the color,
or a freezing cold (-20F) day will give
brighter colors. I love it!
See May '97 CM for recipes.
Marcia in Montana
C Redding wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
> Greetings fellow potters! A while back I asked for some advice on the
> matt glazes with Raku. Rethinking the question I had posed, I wish to
> redefine this area of questioning. I am curious as to the Raku clay bodies,
> firing temps, and post firing techniques used in your pottery. ie, when
> you Raku, during the post firing reductions, what combustibles do you
> use, how much, damp or dry? Do you let it air cool or do you spray the
> pieces with water? Any advice is welcomed, as I am a student potter
> trying to get a grasp in this area. Thanks!!!
>
> cookie redding
> cr7696@ark.ship.edu
Nalis Giles on fri 28 nov 97
Cookie,
I have only played with raku off and on for the last cuople of
years so take this advice
for what its worth. There are no rules to raku that I have found. I have
reduced in newspaper,
pine needdles, oak leaves, maple leaves, ceader shavings, pine
shavings, ect...... It seems to have subtle, but different effects on
the same glaze. Firing , reduction, the time you take to tonge the piece
out of the kiln seem to have a little effect on the pot.
The best advice that I (or anyone else) could give is to have fun in
the expermentation prosses and keep very accurate notes, because when
you get that one semi perfect pot, glaze
hue, tinge of copper(not to much but just enough), you will want to
reproduce it over and over again. But we are talking raku aren't we! Ok
forget trying to reproduce that same copper and
just have gobs-O-fun with it.
keep your kiln hot and your wheel spinning
Nalis
Don Jones on sat 29 nov 97
----------------Original message----------------------------
>>
>> Greetings fellow potters! A while back I asked for some advice on the
>> matt glazes with Raku. Rethinking the question I had posed, I wish to
>> redefine this area of questioning. I am curious as to the Raku clay bodies,
>> firing temps, and post firing techniques used in your pottery. ie, when
>> you Raku, during the post firing reductions, what combustibles do you
>> use, how much, damp or dry? Do you let it air cool or do you spray the
>> pieces with water? Any advice is welcomed, as I am a student potter
>> trying to get a grasp in this area. Thanks!!!
>>
>> cookie redding
>> cr7696@ark.ship.edu
The best way I have seen to Raku is to use a trash can with about 4 bricks
on the bottom in a stack with one or two sheets of shredded newsprint.
When the piece is removed from the kiln (usually using gloves, to tongs) it
is gently placed on the stack and about 3 pieces of newspaper is trown in
and the lid closed. The can then makes a gentle whump when the paper
combusts and a little smoke escapes. The lid is removed and the piece is
perfectly smoked from top to bottom. The piece is then scrubbed with water
and a green pot scrubber when still hot but not too hot.
Perfect!
Don Jones
claysky@highfiber.com
:-) implied in all messages and replies
http://highfiber.com/~claysky
Charles Williams on sat 29 nov 97
Cookie,
I use a RAKU clay body I buy from Axner. I fire to witness cone 06 (1860
degrees F). I use a combination of shredded paper and oak wood sawdust. I
have used oil soaked rags and leaves and small tree limbs from the yard for
post firing reduction. All these seem to work well. For reduction containers,
I use metal garbage cans. I have a friend who uses an old metal bathtub for
which he built a sheet metal lid. The more air tight the container, the
greater the degree of reduction. To develop a range of colors, burp the
container a few times during reduction. This technique can also be used to
somewhat control the development of a finer pattern of crackle. Burping the
container consists of opening the lid ( BE CAREFUL - The hot gasses will
usually burst into flame and flare out a bit from the container - hold the
lid [ with gloves ] between yourself and the container ) for 10-20 seconds.
The number of times the container is burped and the length of time the
material is allowed to flame somewhat controls the color patterns and crackle
pattern. Nothing is truly controllable with RAKU. Every firing will be
somewhat different - the mystique of RAKU. Enjoy and experiment freely with
techniques, glazes and reduction. Above all, BE SAFE.
C Williams AKA Mississippi Mudcat Pottery
PurpleLama@aol.com on sat 29 nov 97
Cookie asked
"I am curious as to the Raku clay bodies, firing temps, and post firing
techniques used in your pottery. ie, when you Raku, during the post firing
reductions, what combustibles do you use, how much, damp or dry? Do you let
it air cool or do you spray the pieces with water?"
My reply:
- I use Standard Clay 213 - cone 6 porcelain. I have been firing in a small
electric kiln (I thought that having an Olympic gas raku kiln [my first
choice] with flames shooting out of it would freak out my neighbors).
- I fire to about cone 06. However, this is an approximation. I learned to
visually gauge when the glaze was mature from Sarah Barnes at Clayworks in
Baltimore (thank you, Sarah). I wear goggles when I open the kiln and check
the progress of the glaze.
- For the post firing reduction, I use shredded paper from my old office. I
may begin to use straw since I have changed jobs and don't have as readily
accessible a supply of shredded paper. I spice up the shredded paper with
wood shavings. (I would prefer saw dust, but don't have a supply of it). My
combustibles are dry and I make a fairly deep bed of them. I line the top of
the trash cans with wet newspaper to better seal them.
-For me, raku is a means of immediate gratification (like Polaroids). I
usually take the pieces out of the trash cans when they are still very hot,
so I can see what they look like. I let the pieces air cool.
Hope this helps.
Shula
PurpleLama@aol.com
in cloudy Baltimore, MD USA
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