Raku

Raku Starter Kit

This is a great kit to get you started wth Raku firing and includes a kiln, burner, batt, gauntlets, Raku tongs, sawdust bin, sawdust and a couple of glazes, white crackle and turquoise crackle for only £800

Raku pots in the kiln

If you run Raku workshops and would like to be included on this page then please contact us by phone or email.

Raku: The Process

Pieces for Raku are first dipped or brushed with glazes then fired in a Raku kiln. During the firing process the temperature is carefully controlled by adjusting the gas and lifting the lid, this helps to settle the glaze on the pot before the pot is reduced at the next stage.

Once the pots have been fired, they are placed in a bin of newspaper, sawdust and ashes. The resulting fire and smoke creates wonderful patterns in the glazes, and glazes containing metal oxides are partially 'reduced'-- the oxide turns back to metal, giving swirls of shiny metalic colours.

After 10 - 15 minutes in the reduction bin, the pots are removed, carefully cooled, then washed and scoured to remove the lumps of carbon and ash. At this stage the true beauty of the new Raku pot appears from under the rather dirty surface.

Raku is a random process and it is very difficult to predict the pattern, effect and often the colour of the resulting pot. So, it's only at this stage that you begin to see the final result.

The finished Raku pot (as you can see on the left) has a mixture of the greens and browns of the glaze and has reduced inside to form copper. The glaze is crazed and the smoke from the reduction bin has turned the cracks black.