Raku Process

The Raku firing process comes from a technique created by the Raku family in Japan. What I perform is an Westernized version of this process. While the glazes have melted and the pieces are red-hot, they are taken out of the kiln and put into an oxidation reduction chamber. The chamber is an aluminum container lined with combustible material that catches fire when the piece is placed inside and the container is then closed off to essentially "smoke" the piece. With every firing and reduction, one color of glaze can turn out many different ways. The clay's surface is entirely different than another piece with the exact same glaze.