Not long ago, a dozen of us gathered there, each of us bringing a piece to paint with raku glazes and fire in an open flame.
First we painted our pieces...
Then Colette loaded them into a special kiln heated by a blowtorch fueled by 2 propane cylinders.
When the pottery was hot enough (glazes had melted - as viewed through the hole at the top of the steel drum kiln), she removed them with tongs... (Note the protective gear she has to wear to take them out.)
She dropped each piece into a steel bucket that has a crumpled newspaper "nest" inside.
The hot pottery starts the newspaper on fire - we quickly covered the pots with lids, to put the fire out. Then we waited half an hour before opening them up to see what the chemicals in the newsprint had done to the glazes.
The results were totally unpredictable! Often the final color bore no resemblance to what we expected!
Most were shiny. Beautiful!
The last step was washing (sometimes even scrubbing) off any residual carbon from the burning.
The whole experience was one surprise after another. Now that I know how the process works, I'd like to try it again!
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