Raku, Raku, Raku

Last night, we fired raku pots during our last class. Complete with lots of yummy goodies, wine, and beer it was a fun night for all. Ron even brought a quiche, which was delicious!

Before the firing, I glazed these three. To begin, I took note of which glazes I put on there pieces. This is much better than trying to draw the pot.From L-R: blue/green with superstition on the rim
turquoise luster
turquoise with moon drops on the rimIt was almost a full moon night, which added to the whole experience...

The guys made sure to watch the kiln closely. Joe, the one on the far left knew the most out of all of us. He was very helpful.

In the first round, somehow, Ron's piece cracked in two.

Here's an inside peek of the kiln.

Finally, it was my turn on the third round. The two bowls and the cylinder in the center in this shot are mine. Becky's animal looks quite hot, too. :)
We let them cool for a few seconds, before putting them into the buckets, nestled in newspaper. As you can see, one already got moved to the buckets. Here are two of my bowls, catching some color in the bucket. See one on its side? They're both on fire! Through it all, the needle in the pyrometer seemed to be moving up and down. I think it was moody.Finally, they were finished and after some cooling, here the three are. I'm so happy with how they turned out, although the raku glaze was a bit thick in some places.
From the top: these really have good color!