Raindrop and Raku

From a raindrop.... These are the start of the words in a Peter Mayer song that I etched onto a plate for me, just me. :) (Earthen Red plus white trailing slip). Everything I need in the etching is in the pic. Red pen to write down some of the lyrics of the song, the tool, and that's it!

Before the raku, mid-day, we celebrated Robin's birthday. This was not the first of her birthday celebrations... it was great to be included at the last minute and the conversation was full of laughter. Chris (second from left) brought a delicious coconut lemon pie. Yum!

Here we're all anticipating our piece of the pie.

Robin and Chris on this happy day- St. Patrick's day too! Gorgeous daffodils as well. I've loved it that it's warmer here--- real spring-like weather! All encouraging in the midst of job searching.

Made these six cups yesterday. Hope to trim them all later today. Am finishing more off with a rib and trying new things in terms of form. Put some slip on this cup earlier and then decided when it was dry to take a sponge and wipe some of it off. I like the effect....

Last night when I was at Clayworks it was also Raku night for Greg's class. Here Greg and John (L-R, respectively) are waiting for the kiln to heat up. Greg is drinking a beverage of some sort. Stories abounded. Greg has some of the best stories to tell. I stayed around a bit to watch the fun action. Check out John's blog for more pics.

Finally, the kiln was hot and pots were put in. In this pic above, some of the pots were drying as raku glaze had been put on them just prior to the class.

When it was hot enough, the pots came out one by one, and CAREFULLY! Here's John bringing his big pot to one of the small cans.

Newspaper caught on fire when the pot was placed in, which was a great thing.

Here's another small pot upon its arrival in the trashcan. All made sure to 'burp' the cans too..... to take the lid off of at some point, not to long after putting the pot in, to help the can catch fire again. All this helps in the cooling and the colors, I think.

This is John's big pot when he was burping it. He added some more newspaper inside it. We could literally see the colors changing. Amazing to watch!

Finally, when it was cooled down, it was retrieved from the can. Look how dark the big one is initially....

and then how in time, more colors come out. The small one is John's too; the smaller ones in the pic above are Ed's.

Writing this post has reminded me of how much more I have to learn about raku. Above is Greg's pot.... notice the face sculpture on it. The raku world is always unpredictable in a wonderful way.