Raku Slide show of process
Many thanks to my good friend and Mentor Guy Routledge at Carrington pottery for his invaluble help and advice with the Raku firing
All Raku pots are hand thrown with copper flakes added at the wet stage. Like the small bowls they are first glaze fired at 1350'c but they are then Raku fired up to 800'c in a gas kiln. They are removed at this temperature and dropped into a container of sawdust and a lid put on. At this intense heat the wood tries to burn but as there is no Oxygen in the atmosphere, the reaction rips oxygen from the copper oxide in the flakes reducing them back to metallic copper. The process leaves the clay blackened and smelling of wood smoke for at least a year.
For a slide show of the process please click here
All Raku pots are hand thrown with copper flakes added at the wet stage. Like the small bowls they are first glaze fired at 1350'c but they are then Raku fired up to 800'c in a gas kiln. They are removed at this temperature and dropped into a container of sawdust and a lid put on. At this intense heat the wood tries to burn but as there is no Oxygen in the atmosphere, the reaction rips oxygen from the copper oxide in the flakes reducing them back to metallic copper. The process leaves the clay blackened and smelling of wood smoke for at least a year.
For a slide show of the process please click here