Week 4 - Raku-BQ!

Molly pulling out Jooby's and her collaborative spider sculpture from the kiln. 

The highlight of this past week in the studio was the Dirtbags’ Raku-becue! A Raku-BQ is a raku firing that happens alongside a barbecue, and it is an event believed to have originated at IUS ceramics. We didn’t get around to hosting one last year, so I’m glad that we made it happen this fall. Thanks to Jooby for taking care of all the set-up for the firing and making sure everything ran smoothly on the raku front.

Prior to this firing, I’d only fired one piece, the lamp I made at the beginning of last fall, in our raku kiln. I keep saying I want to play around with raku and saggar but then put all my pieces in the soda or wood. Partly because I’ve been working so big and that most my smaller pieces are functional, partly because of the heightened risk of thermal shock and shitty outcomes.

The little vignette sculptures I made a couple weeks ago proved to be the perfect low-risk testers to sneak into the Raku-becue firings.

I glazed 1/3 of my pieces in white crackle, left 1/3 raw, and the other 1/3 with the copper/cobalt carbonate “baylor luster” glaze. I thought I’d like the white crackle best for these small forms, and I do, but surprisingly, my favorite outcomes came from the copper/cobalt carbonate glaze. The iridescence reminds me of mussels and clam shells, precious stones, or shards of volcanic rock. I love how the colors transform in different light settings and really enjoy the fantastical, somewhat alien quality these finishes brings.

Much to consider. And definitely more iterations to come.

I worked on my big sculpture this week, too, but don’t have any pictures to share of that. I will update next blog. Unfortunately, life doesn’t stop life-ing, even for my IUS blog deadlines. I intended to put some hours in this morning and get some good progress pics, but I’ve come down with a cold and instead have spent the day fighting it off and saving my energy for work tonight. Sigh. Until next week!