Raku Firing Day

Today was the final and most exciting class in my Raku Sampler Course at Shadbolt Center for the Arts.  It was a long day, filled with lots of excitement, flames, smoke, dangerous chemicals, and amazing results.  The fun thing about raku is that the results are almost immediate, although I do need to still clean up some of my pieces a bit more, and will also track down beeswax to wax many of the pieces, which I believe will enhance the colors and shine, and also hold the colors better than if I don't wax them.

Since everyone in the class signed a waiver for a Shadbolt photographer to take their photos, I don't think they'd object to my posting some photos from class today.  But first, some of the beautiful results :

Many of these are horsehair raku, a few of them from the saggar firing, and also from the naked raku firing.

These are from the obvara (sourdough) firing.  They are pulled out hot from the kiln, dipped in a fermenting yeast mixture, and then quickly dipped into water.

The temperature of the piece as well as the time between dipping in the yeast mixture and the water, seemed to determine the colors which formed.  It was all a big experiment, but as we took turns, we learned a bit about the timing.

This piece at front is one of my obvara pieces, which turned out a little on the dark side.  There is texture on the sides of the pot from crackling with sodium silicate, but the obvara didn't follow that texture, it created its own visual texture.  This one I dipped in while very hot, so the color turned very dark before I could cool it in the water bucket.  A little darker than I had planned, but I still like the effect.  The pieces which were left to cool longer before dipping, as well as the ones which were coated with terra sig before bisque firing, had a lighter color (see the pieces behind).

As I mentioned, there was lots of heat and fire.  Here are the raku kiln just being opened...

...and hot pieces being removed with the tongs :

I was happy to leave this very hot work to Linda, Tony and Jay, who were doing a wonderful job pulling out the pieces and delivering them to their respective destinations.  Usually it was into combustibles.  This is a "naked" raku being set into a metal bucket lined with newspaper and sawdust, a bit more paper added on top, allowed to flare up in flames, and then covered for 5 minutes to smoulder :

... and this is a glazed raku piece, which is set into a "nest" of newspaper, filled with sawdust, and then covered with a metal can lined with newspaper shreds.

About 5 minutes into the process, Linda told us we'd need to "burp" them.  I think it would be better named "torch" them, because the cans were tipped up, and the flames were allowed (or helped along with the torch) to flare up again, before setting the cans back into the sand base.

The smell was wonderful.  A lot of us thought it smelled like burning marshmallows on the campfire.

The horsehair raku was the part I was most looking forward to, and it didn't disappoint.  Again, timing was everything.  Hairs applied while the pot was too hot, seemed to just vaporize and smoke, leaving a large smoky area.  The hairs applied while at the optimal temperature, curled and attached themselves to the pot, creating a distinct black squiggly line.  The hairs applied when too cool, didn't stick at all.  And from too hot to too cold was maybe a minute or two.

Here is one of my horsehair vessels which turned out well.  It features some feathers (they look great, although I'll find out how much of the detail will remain when I rub off the charred traces of carbon, and reveal the pattern below), the dots created from sugar crystals, horse hair, and I added some human hair (my own, and that of my family members, since I cut their hair :-) ).  The human hair was extremely fine in comparison to the horse hair, so again, I'll see what patterns remain.

The naked raku turned out better than I had expected.  When we pulled the charred pieces out of the metal buckets, and hosed them down with cold water, the "sacrificial slip" was not too hard to scrape off with a credit card (I used an old CD).  Here is mine, getting washed down :

...and mostly washed off :

When Fredi saw it, she asked if I would be willing to lend this piece for another student exhibit, but then she decided to pick my sculpture (my lady) instead, and picked a naked raku piece from another student.

The saggar firing was not as exciting, since we packed the items last week, and then Linda had them fired and ready for us to unpack this week.

The unpacking was fun, and there were some amazing results.  My favourite is that one on the very bottom left, those dramatic lines were from the copper strand in a pulled apart copper scrubbing pad.

My two pieces turned out very nicely.  Not dramatically amazing, but I'm still very happy with them.

I also wrapped mine with the copper strand, but mine didn't turn out as dramatic.   It may have been where it was placed in the kiln, or perhaps something which I did or didn't pack in my saggar (although when I compared notes, we probably packed many of the same materials).

My biggest surprise and also disappointment was around my sculpture, the lady in a beautiful dress.  I was prepared that something would happen to her, that she would lose an arm or something during handling, or in reaction to the rapid temperature changes.  The good news is that Tony was able to amazingly carry her with tongs into the combustion area, and also from there to the hose-down area, and she was completely undamaged.

The disappointing part is that I glazed her dress in a bright red glaze (which I also used for some pendants, and they turned out with an amazing bright red), but she ended up a very unspectacular gold colour.  Tony says it's a sign that she didn't get enough reduction, perhaps because the can was quite large, so a lot of air around her, or perhaps since there was a hole in the can, so a small stream of smoke billowed out, even though we had tried to block it with some rocks, and then placed a lid over it.  Oh well.  She is still chosen for the student exhibit, although I somewhat wish she wasn't.  I keep thinking she's my Lady in Red Who is Not Red.  But she did turn out well, I have to admit.  Her dress, even though not Red, has a beautiful shine and a bit of iridescence to it.

Overall, it was a wonderful adventure, and I have lots of wonderful pieces which I would not have if I hadn't taken this raku course, so it was also a tremendous success.

Garden Totem Surprise Residents

It is 3 months since my initial set up of my garden totem beside my then-bare Davidii involucrata (dove) tree.  Today I finally went out with more of the pieces, most significantly the base piece, to replace the overturned plastic plant pot.

I started removing piece by piece, and was surprised to find the pot and the bottom three pieces completely filled with sandy soil, and a colony of ants.  So I installed the base piece, dumped the soil from the pot into it, and replaced the other 3 pieces in the same sequence, to hopefully restore the poor colony without too much disturbance.  Poor things were frantically running about, and one brave ant had already bitten my hand (he was tiny, so it wasn't much of a bite).

I have changed up the top of the totem a bit, I think it may look a bit better now.

I was glad that the base piece fit nicely.  It looks much better than the plastic flower pot.  The funny duck head on the other side of the tree is a piece of driftwood which I enhanced with a bit of acrylic paint for the beak.  Both the totem and the driftwood duck serve as stoppers or hose guards for my water hose, when I pull it about the yard.

Here's another view of it, looking toward my other ceramic pieces in the garden.

I have a couple more pieces which I am still waiting for final glaze firing, so hope to have another small totem in the garden soon.  I have lots of small trees to navigate around with the hose, so I have many locations which would benefit from another hose guard.

Just for fun, I put a few left over pieces in what is left of my poor peach tree, which got very diseased this year, so I cut it down.  I plan to replace it next year.  But for now, at least I get the ceramics off my kitchen counter.  Hopefully I don't have any residents move into them before I assemble them into a totem!

Really Ready to Raku - Next Week

Today was the first of two raku firing sessions, except we didn't do any firing, since there is construction going on near the raku kiln.  So we just prepared a number of our pieces, and will fire all of them next week.

I prepared two pieces for saggar firing, using various organic materials, and some metals, such as bottle caps and copper from a kitchen scrubber.  Here is the first pot being prepared :

The bottle cap is from one of my favourite drinks, the Old Tyme Jamaican Style Ginger Beer.  It has a nice bite to it, but is also very sweet and delicious to drink.

This is the second pot being prepared for saggar firing :

This one had a few fresh rhodo flowers tied to it, as well as horsetails (I have thousands in my garden).

We also prepared one piece for naked raku firing.  Mine was finished in turquoise terra sig, and will feature a black top and bottom, and black stripes which were created by taping off those lines.

We also prepared some pieces for glazing.  I am making some pendants, with taped off patterns, and various glaze colours in between:

Since the pieces are small, my instructor Linda provided a wire basket which we will use to remove them from the kiln and place them in the combustibles.

We have been told to wear full shirts with long sleeves next week, for the firing, and no polyester or fleece or other fibers which would melt from the heat of the raku kiln.  So I actually stopped at a thrift store today and picked up a rayon button up top, since I don't have any full long sleeves, and the 3/4 sleeve tops I have are all polyester or other man made fibers.

So I had to do some quick reading about rayon.  Even though it is man made, it is created from cellulose in trees, so it is based on a natural source, even though the fiber itself is artificially created.  So hopefully I'll be okay.  The alternative would have been to steal one of my husband's cotton dress shirts.  Too bad we just donated a large bag of his shirts to a thrift store last week.  Although I think this rayon shirt will look a lot better on me.  It is a Chico's shirt, so a good brand.  I will probably only wear it the once, and then can donate it back to that thrift shop.  So a good deal for everyone.

Visiting My Swirly Platter

My husband took me out for dinner tonight.  It has been a very long time since we had a date. After dinner we walked around Deer Lake in Burnaby, and visited my swirly platter which is on display at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.

Applying Terra Sig and Student Exhibit

Today was a long day.  I applied terra sigillata (basically a very fine clay slip) to 14 of my raku pieces.  The 15th I only trimmed today, so it was not dry enough to apply terra sig.

Here are 9 of my pieces, waiting on the bisque shelf, after the terra sig was applied :

The star-shaped plates, I finished in coloured terra sig.  One in turquoise, and the other two in yellow.  The vase at the back, which I plan to use for the naked raku, is also finished in turquoise.  The others are finished in white.

Here's my little penguin, the part I finished in terra sig is still gray (moist) since the photo is when it was freshly applied.  I didn't try to polish the terra sig, I don't think the penguin should be shiny, just smooth, and I didn't want to take a chance that I would break off his beak.  I was fortunate that none of my pieces broke during polishing, but a few classmates were not so fortunate today.  The penguin's tummy I plan to finish in crackle glaze, and the remainder of him will turn black from being placed in combustible materials.

Here are the next 4 pieces, also waiting on the bisque shelf.  For the sodium silicate crackle vases, I didn't apply terra sig to the vase at all, since I want it to be rough for the obvara raku, but I applied terra sig (at least I think I did) to the bottom/foot, so it will be smooth.

Finally, my "princess for an evening" lady, whose dress will be finished in a glitzy glaze, and the rest of her will either be black (if I am able to remove her from the kiln with tongs, and place her in combustibles), or white (if I can't lift her out, and just leave her in the kiln to cool down).  I finished her skin and the base of the sculpture in terra sig.

I had time left after applying the terra sig, so I glazed two of my pieces from early April.  One of the big vases was cracked on the bottom.  Probably since I left it too bottom-heavy, should have trimmed much more.  But I glazed it anyhow, just to see what happens.

I found that my rolled plate/bowl also was cracked.

I was not too surprised, since I knew about this weak point when I was forming it.  On the advisement of our instructor, I decided to let this one go, and not finish it, even though that is a strong instinct of mine.  So I took a photo of the bowl, and placed it in the discard area.  I have to say, when I did that, it was a nice feeling, not to feel obligated to save it.  I need to learn how to let go.  Today was a an important first step for me.

Next week I will terra sig that final raku piece, and glaze a few of my remaining pieces.  Then I'll be ready for the 2 sessions of raku firing.  I can't wait.

Oh, I almost forgot, I also visited my large swirly platter / bowl which is on exhibit at the moment at the Shadbolt Center in Burnaby, BC.

Here it is in its display case.  It was surrounded by a lot of really talented work by fellow students, many of whom I know and consider to be friends.

Here is another shot of it, from behind :

That's a bit plate holder!  I should find out where I can buy one like that!

Mostly Trimming, Some New Pieces

I don't know why I threw so many pieces with a heavy bottom, so I spent much of the class today trimming.  I am not very good at trimming yet, so I found it tedious and frustrating.  But I was glad to declare 10 of my pieces "done", except that I'll need to apply terra sig to them next week when they are bone dry.

The little penguin is looking more like a penguin now that I have sketched a line around his belly, which I plan to glaze with crackle glaze.  The remainder will be left unglazed, so will turn black when placed in the combustibles.

I didn't want to leave class with no new pieces, so I took advantage of some little plate-making molds provided by my classmate, Bev.

They work like magic.  You cut a slab a bit bigger than the moulds, and clean up the edges.  Then you place the slab on a thick foam, and press it with the mould.  The process was really quick.  In about 10 minutes I had 3 plates to show for my efforts :

I have only 1 more piece to trim, but ran out of time, since I couldn't stay for the drop in session.  I had an appointment to go to, and since I had some spare time in between, I stopped by my 14-year-old's District (city) track meet, to offer him a ride home, and was very happy to be able to watch his last race, a 4x400 meter race.  He was amazing, and led his team to victory.  But not only that, I found out that he had won all 5 of his short and middle distance events that day.  So he advances on to the next level.  Wow, the fastest boy in his grade in our city.  I am so proud.  I can take no credit for his ability whatsoever, but I was so excited for him and proud.

Anyhow, back in the pottery world...  I have also 1 sculptural piece still at home.  I was going to keep her a secret, but I have to share a sneak peek.  I am hoping to finish her dress with a glitzy / iridescent glaze, and let the rest of her turn black in the raku firing.

 

She's not very beautiful, but she has a great dress.  I think I'll name the sculpture "Princess for the Evening".

More Pieces for Raku

I guess I forgot to take photos last week, but I threw a couple more vase shapes, and trimmed some from the previous week.  Since I had to run off to work and couldn't stay for workshop, I attended workshop today, so I could make more pieces for the raku firing.

Today was a pretty productive session : I threw 4 pieces, glazed 2 from the previous course, and picked up 2 finished pieces from previous courses.  Here are the 4 I threw today :

I knew one of my raku pieces would need to be a penguin.  It would be great with a crackle glaze tummy and the remainder black.

I started a second penguin, but the head went wonky, so I cut it off and finished it as a vase :

Then I threw 2 vases with sodium silicate to create a crackle effect.  I have seen these finished in an the obara raku (yeast mixture), and they look great.  I left the neck of the vases intentionally textured also, hopefully to pick up some nice colour effects.

The two pieces I glazed were from my Spring Ahead course.

The big birdbath (footed bowl), I decided to finish similar to the Large Swirly Bowl which will be showcased in a student pottery exhibit at Shadbolt next weekend.  Except this time, instead of just Deep Blue, I filled the swirls with Deep Blue and Tenmoku (dark brown), and sprayed with Clear instead of Celadon.  Here it is after I brushed on the glazes, before scraping them and sponging them off to reveal the swirly pattern :

The other piece was that big hollow bowl, which is thrown upside down, and then flipped over and slumped.  The glaze colours are a surprise, they are a new colour combination for me, which I hope will have an interesting effect :

Finally, here are the two finished pieces which I picked up today.  The first one was from Fall 2014, but has been on the Rejected Pots shelf, since it slumped, and was threatening to attach itself to the kiln during glaze firing.  So I added some of that kiln support clay (forgot the proper name of it), and finally sent it in for firing.

Fall 2014 #31) I think the result is very nice, although the shape is very wonky.  Perhaps it was not dry enough when I pulled it out of the mould, and added the foot.  I can't remember now.  Anyhow, it was sponged with Blue and Green slips before removing the leaves.  The bottom/outside is finished in Matt Green, and then the top/inside is sprayed in Clear glaze.

The final piece is my Turquoise and Black slip marbled plate / bowl from Feb 2015, from the Spring Ahead course :

Spring 2015 #31) The top is Black and Turquoise slip.  It is sprayed in Celadon glaze.  I like the foot with the little swirl carved inside.  That is becoming my signature for trimmed feet.