In
my down time, I have been cleaning up and discovering things I didn't remember
having like a small bucket of a white ash raku glaze tucked away in the back of
my glaze room shelves. It was of course bone-dry having last been used in CT I
think so I decided to pour in some water and make it glaze-worthy again. It
took a couple of days to break down from what was a large hockey puck of
materials but it mixed up well and I decided to give it a try on a few bisque
teabowls, made of earthenware that had been hanging around collecting dust.
Once glazed, I put it in my small electric test kiln and waiting for the glaze
to melt and mature at which time I used an old pair of glaze tongs fitted to
two pieces of old pipe, snatched the bowl out of the top loading kiln and
dropped it in shredded newspaper and some sawdust and here is the results.
Now
admittedly this is not the most epic raku piece ever made but it was certainly
spontaneous enough and fun, the thrill of reaching into that red hot kiln,
pulling out the pot and moving it to its reduction bed all the while glowing
fiercely makes me want to give it another try despite being more than a bit
hard on the kiln. As the title implies, don't try this at home but remember to
take risks, even small ones as I am constantly reminded, life is short.
Not
that it matters all that much but this is what i was listening to as I quickly
wrote this post, from a wonderful album I should mention.
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