The
Mystery of Raku Pottery
Raku is a sixteenth century
method of
firing pottery for the Japanese Tea Ceremony.
Pottery was fired in a small wood-fired kiln, and then the
ceramics were
removed after they reached a high temperature of over eighteen hundred
degrees.
The pottery was removed, while still glowing red, with long tongs and
placed in
a container of combustible materials like leaves and straw.
Today potters are firing with gas or
electric
kilns. The process of removing the hot
pottery is the same. The ceramics would
smolder and cool rapidly after placing them in a container filled with
leaves. This rapid cooling will create
a crackling effect, in the smoke filled environment.
This cracking is the nature of raku pottery.
The smoke from the leaves will fill the
cracks with black from the carbon. The lack of oxygen in this
environment also
creates metallic lusters, and rich reds.
Red is the hardest color to achieve when firing ceramics!
After
the containers have cooled
enough to handle, it’s like opening wrapped presents.
You never know exactly what you will get!
Ceramics ready to be pulled from an 1800 degree kiln.
See a video of group pulling ceramics from a raku kiln...
"CONTAINMENTNO.25"-raku fired ceramic and bronze rod assemblage.