We were lucky enough to have Andy Mason come to deliver a Raku workshop for us in early March. We spruced up our outside firing area with a lovely ‘Murial’ (if you are old enough and a Corrie fan you’ll get this reference!) which our technician Alex designed and painted, with Lisa grabbing a paintbrush to assist.
The workshop was a resounding success with 12 eager participants busily glazing their pots with a variety of Andy’s raku glazes before taking them down to the kilns for firing.
Raku firing is possibly the most exciting process of ceramics – certainly the one laden with most opportunity for disaster! The pots have to be heated to 1060c in about an hour – this is viciously quick for a ceramic pot to be heated – our normal firing in an electric kiln would take about 12 hours to reach the same temperature – so there is jeopardy in just the very first part of the process.
Once the pots have reached that 1060c temperature we test out our nerves even more, as each pot has to be lifted out using long tongs and then carried over to a bin lined with woodshavings, placed inside and then covered with hay or newspaper. This immediately bursts into flames whereupon a lid is firmly fitted over the bin. After about 15 minutes, the lid is removed – cue a lot of eye watering and coughing from spectators because of the smoke (goggles and fume masks are strongly recommended) – and the pot is lifted from the bin.
As if the poor pot hadn’t suffered enough, the final part of the process is to dunk the pot into a bucket of cold water. There is a satisfying hiss and lots of steam, and everyone keeps their fingers tightly crossed that the piece doesn’t give up the ghost and crack – or worse – explode due to the extreme thermal shock of it being immersed into the water.
If, after all this, the pot survives the experience, the colours and patterns of the raku glazes make the whole process worthwhile. Vivid greens, yellows and blues, shiny copper metallics and lustrous purples, combined with black patterns from the smoke make a raku pot instantly recognisable.
Andy was kept busy the entire day. When not firing the pots he swapped his leather apron and gauntlets for his chef’s pinny and cooked a Japanese stir fry for all the workshop participants.
The day was so successful, that we’ve persuaded Andy to come back again next year – this time for a whole weekend!
