U 2 Can Raku!

Last weekend I led a Raku Firing Workshop for Ceramic Arts Queensland in Brisbane. I entitled the workshop – U 2 Can Raku!

I did this because I think that anyone can raku and it is a very accessible, inexpensive and fun way to fire non-functional pieces.

I took my 2 kilns as I know how to fire them well – (1 fibre and 1 wood-fired – and now my car stinks like smoke LIKE CRAZY two weeks out!) CAQ also had two lovely kilns – so altogether we had 4 raku kilns to fire.

One participant brought his pieces unbisqued, so I set him to firing the wood raku kiln – very slowly. Amazingly, he only lost 1 or 5 tea bowls and they fired to bisque in about 2 hours. Then he continued to fire them and glaze them and generally we all had a good play experimenting with his lovely handbuilt tea bowls.

We had great glazes to play with and great weather, so all in all I think that it was a great day! Amazing team work by all and the results were truly fantastic! Wish I had photos of each piece!

I was very busy and had little time for photos, so thanks to Emma for these lovely photos!