Born in Fire

Last Friday we had an incredible opportunity to attend a raku pottery lecture and demonstration by my friend Richard Brandt.  Richard is a tea student and teaches pottery so he invited tea students to attend his summer raku pottery class.  He put together a lecture about the history of raku firing and as a special treat, fired teabowls for us. Through his own experimentation, and his special glaze, he was able to make black raku teabowls for us.  Below are photos of the process.

 

Loading the kiln

Fire 'er up

 

About 30 minutes later check the glaze

 

Safety first

 

Pulling the pot from the fire

   

Don't drop it

 

On the cooling rack.  The coffee cans are used to slow the cooling down so the bowls don't crack. 

 

Transformation through magic of the fire

 

From the inside

 

And best of all, tea tastes so good

 

Other students in the class used newspapers and garbage cans after they pulled their pots from the kiln.

 

 Here you see the iridescence typical with American raku

 

Silver, gold, copper and a rainbow of sparkly colors