October Raku with Andrew Berends

Andrew will be teaching the exciting Japanese firing technique known as Raku. Raku is a sixteenth century technique developed by Japan for making tea ceremony ware. It has been developed in this country to produce really interesting pottery. The firings take about an hour and you get a finished piece an the end! Raku is a really fun, exciting technique where pots are fired to 1840 degrees and pulled out of the hot kiln and manipulated with sawdust and water to change the look of the glazes. The glazes can be metallic and or with a crackle effect making each piece truly unique and one-of-a-kind. We will also fire pots with an exciting new technique known as “horse hair” Raku which creates really interesting designs on the clay. The Raku firings can be done indoors or outdoors depending on the weather.The class will include wheel throwing, slab making as well as extruding instruction. The first day will include making all types of clay work and the second day will be glazing and firing all the pots in the Raku tradition. Emphasis will be on being creative and learning the basics of pottery including making, the work, glazing, as well as firing. The class is limited to 4 students. Most of all I want this to be a fun experience working in a very unique and rewarding medium.

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