Raku-yaki Japanese pottery.

Remember this ?

.......well here it is finished!

It was a return to a new term and to new initiatives in the Pottery class, but first we started finishing off the projects that were half completed, not all of them of course, but some.

Our tutor lives in Bath, where her local pottery club is being visited by a Raku-yaki pottery artist. We have all been invited to make something in class and take it to the Pottery Club for the firing, which will be done using the western Raku technique. What is Raku? Well, Raku is usually tableware, used in Japan for the Japanese tea ceremony. Most commonly the pieces are in the form of tea bowls. This form of pottery is characterised by hand-moulding of clay as opposed to turning on a potters wheel, resulting in each piece being one of a kind - my pottery usually is anyway!!

We are working for the next few weeks on a 'make it and take it basis'. The firing is the heart and soul of the Raku technique. No one can predict exactly what the results will look like. When finished, glazes crackle in a fascinating pattern and the metallic oxides change the colours. It is a new challenge and something exciting to look forward to. I will have to put on my thinking cap before next week and think of something slightly unusual to make.