deborah goletz on wed 26 may 99
Stephen, I was fortunate enough to be in Tokoname, Japan during the
International Raku Symposium in August 1991. We learned about the history
of Raku and built and fired many different Raku kilns. The true Japanese
Raku technique is actually an oxidation firing in which the pots are
removed at a much higher temperature than what we are generally familiar
with and allowed to cool in the open air - no combustibles at all! What we
have come to call Raku in this country is was called "Western Style Raku"
at the conference. We fired this way too using all sorts of organic
materials as combustibles such as sawdust, newspaper, leaves, rice straw
etc - one interesting technique we learned was to re-open a reduction bin
allowing the combustibles to re-ignite then re-covering it for a second
reduction. Care must be taken when this is done as it re-ignites the
moment oxygen hits the smoldering material and one young student singed her
eyebrows... But I never heard mention of
using Methylated Spirits! I hope your friend is recovering.
| |
|
