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October 2006 Issue
#43
Published by
Gary R. Ferguson – Raku Artist
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In This Issue
* While the Smoke Clears – Books, Books, Books
* Hang Tags in time for Christmas
* Unstoppable Glaze
* Two Halves of the Same Pot
* Global Warming with Raku
* Raku Links
* Workshops
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* Two Halves of the Same Pot
Doug sent in the following:
I have only been "pottering" since last November and have
found that I enjoy Raku firing more than anything else. We
only Raku fire once a month and I attend each one. We have
a very limited inventory of Raku glazes available to us but
the one I like the best is the Glossy Green. I always seem
to have a problem with it – after removing the piece from
the reduction chamber (garbage can with waded up newspaper)
half of the piece will be very shiny and impart lots of
color while the other half will be dull and maybe even a
"bubbled" finish to it. We just had a firing last Saturday
and the top of the piece was just beautiful with lots of
color and was very glossy but the bottom had a very dull
finish to it. Is there a way to make both top and bottom
halves of the piece come out the same? I have your book,
Raku Secrets http://www.rakusecrets.com
and have enjoyed it
very much.
Well, I can't know exactly what is occurring in these
situations, but I can give you some insight that may help
you out. There are two primary factors as you can guess:
the firing process and the reduction process.
Generally in a Raku firing (because of the speed), the
bottom of a piece get hotter that the top of a piece in a
kiln. This can lead to runs on the bottom with the top
just reaching maturity, or it can get bubbles on the top of
a piece when the bottom is just mature. The bubbles are
caused by gas escaping during the firing and the glaze not
having a change to heal itself by reaching maturity. So the
solution here would be to fire slower and soak at the final
temperature for a little longer to make sure both the top
and the bottom reach about the same temperature at the same
time.
Now during the reduction process you can have two different
impacts on the piece as well. When you place the piece into
the reduction materials the bottom of the piece will often
sit right in the combustibles, which can lead to creating
marks in the glaze and more black marks from the carbon.
Both of which can dull the pieces. The solution here is to
use fewer combustible materials and also place one or more
bricks in the bottom of your reduction chamber set the
piece on to keep the piece elevated out of the reduction
materials better.
Hope this helps.
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Raku Secrets
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Raku Glazes
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Raku Beads
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