The Raku
Making and firing
I make my animals hollow, (although anyone who tries to lift the big ones
finds this hard to believe) without a framework of any sort inside. I
work from the inside using a series of arches and hollow balls and a particularly
tolerant clay made specially to resist this unceremonious treatment.
Once dry (anything up to a month) the animals are bisqued to 980°C
in an electric kiln, or if they're too big, at the local brick factory.
Then they are glazed -not all over- to make contrasts of rough and smooth
as well as shiny and mat surfaces.
The second firing known as "Raku" is adapted from the ancient
method used by the Japanese in the making of ceremonial tea-bowls.
The raku-kiln is a simple structure of bricks, chicken-wire and ceramic
fibre adapted or built new round each animal then heated to about 1000°C
(the temperature of molten lava) with a gas jet.
It takes between an hour and a half to five hours depending on the size
of the piece. When it's ready the colour of the inside of the kiln is
orange and the glaze is incandescent.
Wearing protective clothing and goggles we open the kiln and remove
the piece with specially-made tongs and place it in a bed of sawdust.
The glazes craze on contact with the air and the smoke from the sawdust
penetrates these crackles as well as blackening any surface that hasn't
been glazed.
It's often hard to see exactly what's going on through the smoke. The
length of time the glaze is in contact with the air and whether it's partially
or totally smothered in sawdust both contribute to the end result -as
do other factors like the kind of the sawdust you use and the weather,
especially if it's raining or windy.
The sculptures are then hosed with water while they're still boiling hot
to "set" the effect: some glazes with copper in them re-oxidise
and change colour, the smoked finish can also burn itself off if the piece
isn't cooled quickly enough. Amazingly this brutal treatment doesn't break
them too often.
Once they're cold (it takes several hours) the animals are scrubbed with
wire-wool and detergent to get rid of the tar, and at last you can see
them properly as they emerge from beneath the grime.
