Raku: Fire, Smoke and Surprise
Photo: Taylor Heery / Unsplash
Raku turns firing into theatre. Pieces are heated quickly and then, while still glowing, lifted straight out of the kiln with tongs and placed into containers of sawdust or paper, which catch fire and are sealed shut.
The smoke and sudden cooling do remarkable things. Glazes crackle into fine networks of lines, blackened by the smoke that seeps into them; unglazed clay turns deep, sooty grey. Every result is a surprise, revealed only when the piece is pulled from the ash and cleaned.
Raku ware isn’t watertight and is meant for display rather than dinner, but few techniques are as exhilarating to watch — or as vivid a lesson in how much of pottery is a partnership with forces you can guide but never fully control.
