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Animation
Raku Event

RAKU Video
4min 10 MB mpg

raku fire photos

  Raku is a smoke-fire technique sourced from traditional Korean and later Japanese pottery methods in the 16th century.

As opposed to the conventional way of firing ceramics (slow cooling in the closed kiln), in Raku firing, each piece is individually removed from the kiln - which itself becomes red-hot and the glaze melts - as seen here with long handled tongs. The piece is then immediately hermetically embedded in combustible materials such as dry leaves, hay, etc.....

......the resulting strong smoke (carbon) reacts with the unglazed clay and turns it black, and the resulting oxygen reduced atmosphere as well as some minerals contained in the leaves partly change the glaze colour. Sometimes, leaf and grass prints are embossed in the soft glaze skin. These incidents can be controlled only imperfectly by the ceramist, so each work is a non-copyable unique original......

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