My first attempt at raku with my new kiln on Saturday. They were underfired, so I think I have to get a pyrometer and try again. They were glowing, but apparently not up to temperature. Some of the areas on the pots were very nice, but overall, I didn't get what I was looking for.

Awaiting some kiln cement

Everything is now in place for the raku kiln, but I am waiting for some kiln cement to seal the fiber insulation.
I have a number of pieces ready to fire, and I mixed up a raku copper glaze and glazed some of the bisqueware after doing some wax resist on a few of them to see what sorts of effects I will get with reduction.
As all the potters out there know, there is no time for boredom if one is serious about this craft. There is clay to reclaim, glazes to make, pots to throw, thrown pots to fettle, etc.
I was watching a movie last week and it was set in the middle ages, and I lost track of the story because someone had made reproductions of period pottery for the scenes, and it was facinating to think that someone had been commissioned to do something like that. How cool would that be!
More to come this week-end, I hope!

Raku here we come...

Yesterday the burner and fiber blanket came in for the oil drum raku kiln.
Made the clay buttons to hold the fiber blanket, but I have to fire them first.
Got a box of raku clay waiting to be thrown and I am just about ready for the start of raku season!

Fear and loathing in New Holland, PA

Over the past few years, I have dreamt of spending more time in the studio and less time in the office. The Road Less Travelled for me is becoming a physician after being in college for design for a period of time and choosing medicine instead, at that time, life as an artist. So the price for that is being 25 years behind the curve and working on getting back into clay and fire. So my mid-life crisis is not cars or relationships. It's pottery. It is learning and talking about wabi and sabi, glazes, building kilns, going to workshops, watching masters create, realizing that there are so many people who forget more about ceramics than I'll ever know. Anyway, I feel like the guy joining the team after the season has started, but I'm not looking back.
For anyone interested, I will be posting the successes and failures of my attempts to return to clay.
Currently I am building a raku kiln to go along with my electric kilns. The portable raku kiln is the precursor to finding a place to establish a permanent gas-fired kiln to do high fire reduction stoneware. Pictures to follow as I am having some problems with downloads.