Monday, June 22, 2009

What is Raku

Raku is a blast! Raku is a pottery firing process where pots are lifted out of the really hot kiln with long tongs just after the glaze has melted and before the pots or kiln cool. The pots are still glowing red when they are placed into a metal container with a combustible material (newspaper, pine needles, sawdust, etc.). The combustible material quickly catches fire and a lid is placed on top to snuff out the oxygen. The fire and pots in the container are starved for oxygen and try to pull it from the glaze, this lack of O2 results in beautiful pieces of pottery. These pots do not hold water and are not safe for food.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Test Tiles- Done!


There are over 325 glaze color choices at T Pots Pottery!




Thanks to the help of Heather and Cory, the finished tiles are hanging in the studio!




As you can see on the tiles pictures above left- the base color is "E" which according to the chart is Robins Egg. Each ring of tiles are organized with all color combination's for the same base color. Robins Egg in the example above.