RAKU

RAKU, A BRIEF EXPLANATION

This pottery technique originated in Japan. in the late 16th century. At this time, RAKU potters were producing wares expressively for the Japanese tea ceremony. RAKU, meaning "pleasure" or "enjoyment" was not introduced to the western world until as late as the first half of the last century.

RAKU is a process of taking pots, while they are still glowing red, (about 1800 F) from the kiln and placing them immediately into closed containers filled with combustible material, such as sawdust. dried leaves, newspaper, etc. While the pots are in these containers a reduction or carbonization process begins as soon as the hot pots ignite the combustible materials. Lids are then put on the containers to create a totally smoked filled atmosphere. The end result is that any unglazed areas on the pots will absorb and turn black from the smoke. During this extreme temperature change of cooling down, crazing or cracking occurs on many of the glazed areas of the pots.

The cracks may make the RAKU pots fragile, and the relatively low temperatures compared to high fired Stoneware and Porcelain, make the pots and the glaze soft, and are therefor not recommended for food or drinks because of the cracks, and the chance of lead poisoning from some types of the glazes.

The two other most common types of firing ceramics are High Fire and Low Fire.

High Fire is the process where ceramics are heated to between 2300 and 2600 degrees F, in either gas or electric kilns. The firing process takes a whole day to heat up and a day to cool down after the temperature is reached.

Low Fire is usually done in an electric kiln, firing to between 1000 and 1800 degrees F, again taking a day to heat up and a day to cool down, before the kiln can be opened.

The differences in the firing process determine the possible uses of a piece of ceramics. High Fired ceramics can be used for food and drink, but Low Fired and RAKU fired are for decorative uses.

You don't have flash installed.