We did some Raku as the final of 4 sessions on the ceramic extension course I've been taking. Good fun it was too. Out in the playground of an old school, right in the city centre, with a big old tank of gas and a modified dustbin lined with spun aluminium. Odd setting, but so very right.
The portable kiln is filled with our pieces, made from special clay, and painted or dipped in special glazes, then we blast it for 30 mins while we snack and gossip.
Once Yvette, our tutor says so, and ONLY when she says so the pieces are man handled out of the kiln...
...and dropped in yet more dustbins filled with sawdust and shredded paper , which of course bursts into flames and is very dramatic.
Once cool, but still hot enough to make steam on being dipped in buckets of water, they are cleaned , scrubbed and polished. something magnificent happens at some point during the process. Probably mostly when they are thrown in the sawdust and shredded paper.
My pieces, two replicas of the larger Kaftans we got in Istanbul, so I can't take any credit for the shape, but the pattern is all me.
I'll be back in September.
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