Updates

Pottery is a blast, but it’s also great to head to warmer climes and visit family I haven’t seen in too long. I’ll be back at the wheel and kiln in March.

Raku is one of the most exciting processes in pottery. It’s fast, hot, and full of the excitement that typical processes simply can’t match. You never know what you’re going to get, but sometimes it’s amazing.

Thank you to everyone visiting the MooseWood Nature Center booth at the TV 6 Craft Show. We donated many pieces to the cause, and raised over $2,000 to help the Center.

Just a few bottles out of the kiln.

I’m really learning to appreciate raku firing. The shimmering brilliant metallic tones and iridescence are unlike any other pottery. Plus, you never really know what you’re going to get. It’s a blast to clean these pots and gaze into their depths.

Everyone loves the drippy effects you get from glaze on a vertical surface, but flat surfaces provide a wonderful opportunity to blend. colors in intricate patterns. This plate is part of my Galaxy series, which evoke images of the richness of color and form found in space.

Just out of the kiln are a number of lovely soap dishes. The bottoms of these little cuties are grooved or textured to allow water to run off the soap. These look great with t.s. pink’s SoapRocks.

Saggar pottery typically starts with fired but unglazed pots that are coated with certain chemicals, salts, and organic material. These are placed inside another container (the saggar) prior to final firing.

When fired, oxygen is consumed in the saggar and it holds fumes from the burning and melting material close to the pot, creating colors and patterns on the pot’s surface. Once cool, a liquid or paste wax seals the pot to retain the colors.

An Ancient Process

Saggars were historically other unglazed clay vessels, but I use aluminum foil to enclose my pottery. Although saggar pottery will hold water it is not food safe. Rewax your pot occasionally to enhance its color and shine

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Raku is a pottery firing technique first practiced in Japan in the 16th century. Originally, the glazed pots were placed directly a hot kiln, allowed to come to temperature, and removed and allowed to chill quickly.

In the 1940s raku was brought to England and America, and in the late-1950s Paul Soldner developed a western style that is now broadly practiced. In this method, pottery is glazed, loaded into a cold kiln, and fired to a relatively low temperature (about 1,800° F).

The pottery is removed while still glowing hot and placed in a metal container with combustible material, like sawdust. The sawdust starts on fire, the container is covered, the fire is smothered, and the reduced oxygen atmosphere and the fumes from the burning material react with the glaze. The pots are removed from the container and quickly cooled in water. When returned to the air many glazes take on a lovely depth and iridescence that is unique to each piece.