The small bowl is mine.... bright orange-red and VERY hot- about 1800 degrees ready to travel to a bucket with newspaper in it. It was a raku day and before the bowl went into the kiln I put glaze on it.Let me back up first and show you more pics of the process.
Spent most of Saturday at the studio. It was a Raku kinda day. First, I put glaze on one raku piece.
I used a combination of these glazes... (hardly overlapped); the design on the inside middle is superstition raku glaze and the rest is in blue green or turquoise raku glaze.With raku one paints the glaze on instead of dipping it.
Then they were placed into the raku kiln.
And they got very, very warm! Here's a peek of the pieces in the kiln as the pots were heating up. After the kiln reached 1800 degrees the kiln was opened and I used metal tongs to take the bowl to the metal bucket. 
Even waiting a few seconds turned all the pieces that were once red into various colors... I had heard that was a good thing, so I waited.
You can barely see the bowl in there---To help it cool, I sprayed it with a bit of water. Here are the colors I got.
Not the best pic. I think I didn't put enough glaze on it; so I decided to let it fully cool and then apply some more glaze and re-fire it. I'll have to take a picture of the re-fired bowl... it looks much better now. More vivid colors. Will post that later.
Here's a better pic of it, looking very small next to John and Joe's pots. We also tried a second type of raku- I think it's still called raku. 
First, I sprayed a copper wash on another bowl. Spraying it helps it to be applied evenly. 
Then it was fired in the raku kiln just like the other bowl. Then, after it was removed, alcohol was sprayed onto it. Here's John doing that to his pot, which of course, immediately caught on fire. WE don't understand how this all happens yet (as this was our first try at this), but as you can see, some color came. The pot was on a wheel and was rotated too as the alcohol was sprayed on it. 
It was a great kodak moment too. Then the pot was put in sawdust and turned and turned until it cooled. When I did this, I realized one of my gloves had a small hole and my thumb was burned a little. :( 
John looked like he really knew what he was doing.
Here's my bowl getting sprayed with alcohol, along with Becky's two pieces. It was hard to know just how long to spray alcohol onto it before it's time to put it into the bucket full of sawdust and turn it around. So, we just did what we thought was good. Some color on my bowl in this pic below... 
Here is my bowl again in the bucket.
This is a bit blurry, but this is the pot face down in the sawdust. I haven't taken pics yet of the two finished raku pieces, but will post them tomorrow. Sorry! You can also find more about this type of firing at Bruce Odell's website here. Meanwhile, a bunch of my slipware came out of the electric kiln. Will post about them tomorrow... I'm so happy with how they turned out! 
I'm really happy with how they turned out. Only problem is that they shrunk a BUNCH! I'll get some better pics tomorrow. The glare from the photo also shows as crooked lines in the upper two bowls. The bowl on the bottom has tahitian cone 5 glaze; all are made from earthen red clay. Here's a closeup of the side of the bowl on the top right: 
Here you can see more clearly the true color of the pot. On this, I just brushed on white and a little blue slip. I'll use this design again.
I quickly found a use for some of the new pots. :) I had just returned from running and was very hungry; edamame and a glass of red wine was the perfect appetizer as I put slip on some more bowls. (The pot holding the red wine isn't mine.) Soy sauce is in the bowl on the bottom left.
So, I started the slipwork. There's alot of things to consider in this: the angle at which the slip bulb is held... the rate at which the wheel is turned when the slip is applied. All this and one's hand has to be steady.
It's much harder than it looks... 
I put slip on these four bowls which are much bigger than the previous ones. Hopefully, they won't shrink too much so they can be cereal bowls. The bowls that just came out, including the one on the way left are now dessert bowls. I'm on the way to making a set! I just need plates now. Will try to throw them tomorrow.
I finished the evening by putting some slip and then sgraffittoing (is that a word?) on this medium sized plate. Poured slip over it and then wrote the words on it with a needle tool. It took a long while.... It's a gift for a friend of mine, Damaris, who just got married on December 27. She's from Guatemala and the scripture is from Ruth, in spanish. It was so peaceful to be in the studio all by myself; what a calm, quiet evening! Tomorrow is raku... I can hardly wait!
Oh, and here's what I made tonight in about an hour. Four big yunomi mugs. As you can see, I was a bit sloppy with the bottom of the one on the right. Will just have to trim it more. This earthen red clay has really opened up a new world for me. Can't wait to see my earthen red pots tomorrow as they come out of the electric kiln. There's a bunch of these in the studio. 
I think my 18 pots are in this one. :) 
Oh, and on my way out, I saw these two on the bisque shelf. I really like this design... this etching... I may try this on some of my pots. 
A bunch of us where there tonight. John and Joe were at it again, making big pieces. Here's John.... where's Joe?
I've also decided to start wearing an old cheap version of crocs to the studio that I have.... things get clay all over them there! This is my random thought for the day. :)
John also showed us his handmade orange scarf, given to him by his daughter Stephanie for Christmas. I hope this makes a full post on his blog.... Please note: it is Clemson orange, not Tennessee orange.
I trimmed these four bowls as well as a plate and tomorrow will add slip to them. My first set! Gotta figure out what slip design to put on them.
