Playing with Fire...Raku, Me

 Raku Clay body.. Several of these didn't make it past the bisque... I'm accident prone..rats!

 The bag bottle on the left didn't make it to bisque but I'm going to reincarnate it.

 So I bought this old kiln and have re-pourposed it for raku. I pulled the wires, got out my hole saw and lined the interior with ceramic fiber. I bought a Ward MR 750 Burner, a digital pyrometer, a 40# Propane tank and away we go!

 High temperature coils may be good for something someday but not for heating.

 One of my neighbors put these out on the side of the road...how timely!

So there's the first batch. I didn't mention but I mixed my first glaze from scratch! White Crackle.

 Ok, not a lot of crackle but it gets better.

 My dedicated if useless studio assistants.

 Pretty good cone 2 but I had to pull all of the stops. Full open at 25 PSI. It took a while to get there. I think I could improve the burner port...the ceramic fiber was a little rough around the hole. 

 The pieces on the right were pulled at 1925F. I think the pieces on the left went to reduction to early and didn't crack tvery much.

 Lids are my nemesis! The lid on the left is a complete mystery and really amuses me. A bowl dunted (blew its bottom out) and a shard seems to have struck the lid button. The button broke off and slid about an inch out of center and resealed itself in the glaze. The shard also seems to have found the lid a good place to set roots. Of course the unglazed section where the button was has turned black with reduction. I'm charging extra for this piece!  More bad news. The piece on the right was doing fine until I scrubbed the lid a little to hard and it snapped in half (note extra black crack). 

 More playing with fire to come!

Firing at Glencairn

 Bisque firing in Marcus's Catenary arch kiln.

 The wedging table

 Bisqued pots ready for glazing.

 Andrew Cooke prepping some work...               

 David Mason with one of his jugs...

 Marcus makes reusable wadding chips for the kiln.

 Brendan Cullen trimming one of his bowls...

Plenty of wood on hand for the firing.

Loading the Anagama. Marcus's wood burning kiln has three chambers. the primary is this arched anagama section that steps up toward the rear of the kiln. The fire burns in the chamber right in front of the pots.

 Behind the catenary arched section are two sprung arch sections that may be used independent of the anagama section by blocking it off. Marcus sometimes uses these sections for salt glazing.

 Pots waiting to be shelved.

 ware boards with Seul Ki's pots ready to go.

 The glazing...

  A bowl of wadding and some molochite sand in waiting for glazed pots...

 David, possibly marveling at the volume of work being swallowed up by the kiln

 Nicolaas Bester bricking up one of the side chambers

 Two of my pots on the bag wall (right most) ready to take the blast

 a thoughtfully appointed side-stoke port

 Joey getting some attention

second chamber bricked and sealed

 someone was sifting ash...

 Nicolaas grinding bricks to fit

 And then there was lunch! One example of why I left Glencairn heavier than when I arrived.

 some fancy brickwork and a lot of sealing got the last chamber together

 Marcus, master of ceremony, blessing the kiln and introducing our celebrated kiln lighter 

and off it went!

 

Jim Behan potter and kiln builder reaching for the spy hole brick to have a peek.

Big kiln, governed by a tiny pyrometer..

So we finally opened the kiln and though ther had been some apprehension that the temperature had swung up again in the first chamber, everything had gone off very nicely. I think everyone was pleased with their work.

 Phil Rogers

 Marion Hebblethwaite

 Andrew Cooke

Some of Andrew's pots. I was inspired by his slip work. 

 David Mason with a gorgeous array of work. 

 Nicolaas Bester

 Some of Nicolaas's work. He has much better photos on his Facebook page. Check them out!

 Brendan Cullen. These are Brendan's first pots, ever!

 Seul Ki Kim

 Marcus grinding a piece. Some of his and Phil's work in the foreground. Thanks Marcus!

 The emptied kiln has that look of the christmas tree after all of the presents have been unwrapped.

Time to get back to work!