We finally had the opportunity to fire up the Raku (“Racoon”) kiln this week. After mixing up our raku glazes early last week, we started off the initial firing with the glaze test tiles – all of which came out pretty sweet and baring loads of surface possibilities. I chose to mix the Copper Penny glaze type which, at the time, was a mystery. I was mostly interested in seeing what I felt like would be a copper toned glaze (as opposed to the luster – which is probably why it was called copper penny). It turns out, depending on the level of oxidation, this thing can come out baring some nice crackled pearly surfaces and some unexpected burgundy coloring… Another test came to prove that it would come out full burgundy with some darker details, but I’m sold on over-oxidized tile.
After getting some feedback from Lindsay and Brian I’ll need to test run some new techniques for throwing and working on the thickness of my forms – really I just need to push the limits of the thinness of the walls on these objects if I want them to come out how I imagine them. Beyond that I applied some handles to the finished mugs from last week. I’m pretty attached to the simplicity of these forms and I feel compelled to develop my skills in throwing so I can pump out and expand on this work.