To commemorate the end of last semester's clay class, we did a raku firing out in the courtyard of the Visual Arts Center. Pieces are placed in the kiln and heated through until they are red hot.
With big tongs and thick oven mitts, each piece is placed in a metal trash bin full of sawdust. Because the piece is so hot from the kiln, the sawdust will catch fire and the smoke will fill the cracks in the glaze (made from the temperature shock from kiln to open air). Dousing a piece with water will give it a coppery effect.
After a cooling down period and a good scrub, pieces are ready to take home that night!
that's so awesome.
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