Raku is smoky work but, oh, the rewards! (Photos by Linda Burleson and Lynne Kelsey).
Lynne Kelsey
Raku, a form of “low fire” pottery in which glazed pieces are heated until they are glowing red then placed into a container with combustible materials such as sawdust, is something that the kilns in the Wine Cup Room can’t handle. Recently, a group of our intrepid Happy Potters members journeyed off site to fire pieces that had been built and glazed specifically for this process, and it is a very smoky process, indeed! The resulting pottery is always something of a surprise, but the final results can be breathtaking! We invite you to stop by the CATC to admire these pieces while they are on display.
Members of the club volunteered their time one Saturday for the all-important cleaning day. Working with clay invariably produces dust, and that dust can cause health problems. Our members are generally mindful of cleaning the tables, tools, and equipment after they’ve been working in the studio, but that darn dust still accumulates! So, it’s up on the ladders and down on the floor to wipe it all away. On the following Saturday, the kiln shelves were cleaned and resurfaced with kiln wash, a sacrificial layer that helps prevent glaze from sticking to the shelves, though large drips must be ground off—something we like to avoid! Now the studio is clean, the kilns are refreshed, and we are looking forward to new projects in 2023.
If you are interested in learning pottery, we invite you to stop by the studio for more information. And from all the Robson Ranch Happy Potters, a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!