Raku Pottery

Raku firing

My trip to the Winsley pottery class was a huge success. The Japanese method of firing pottery is far more exciting than our electric kiln in class! The previously bisque fired pots were glazed with just a few colours and then put into a very crude, bottle gas fired kiln, outdoors. When the required time was up, it was taken while white hot, from the kiln and placed into a wedge of newspaper and covered in sawdust. It was amazing to watch. When cooler, it is then taken out of the sawdust and cold water poured over it and it is left to cool down to handling temperature.

Inside of pot - glazed

Matt finished glazes pot.

The pot is black and very uninspiring to look at when it emerges from the process, but then when gently washed with a pan scourer to remove the smoke it comes out as above. Beautiful vibrant colours is what this method produces and why it is so popular. It was a super day out in the lovely county of Wiltshire and a real experience to see this professional potter from St. Ives in Cornwall ply her craft.