Rakuuuuu! And Horsehair.
The last week has been pretty insane, so I didn't have much of a chance to sit and recount my pottery adventures. Thursday, August 1, was the last day for wet clay. There were also two raku firings, items were chosen and put into the kiln for the soda firing, AND we had a potluck (my contribution: curried deviled eggs, yum!). So it was a pretty hectic evening. First, I had to paint Cthulhu with raku glazes, which I did in a massive hurry in order to get him into the first raku firing. I used curdle blue for his wings and the front of his body, alligator rust for his back (to look like scales), white crackle in his eye sockets, some kind of black on his tentacles, turquoise crackle on his arms (I think), and copper luster (again, I think) on his eyes. Towards the end I was in a crazy hurry so things got a bit hazy! I left his eye slits and his teeth bare, in the hopes of them getting all black and awesome from the smoke. Here's a pic of the kiln before it was fired up, with Cthulhu on the top right, and another shortly after it was opened (our teacher is in the crazy fire suit, starting to remove pieces):
After that, the only new pieces I managed to get done in-between all the other craziness going on were 3 really simple spoon rests, out of red high fire clay. I made them inside unglazed ceramic bowl molds, which helped them to dry more quickly: the unglazed surface basically sucks the moisture right out of the wet clay. Those kinds of quick n easy projects are about the only thing to do on the last day for wet clay, other than finishing up works in progress (and I didn't have any of those).
In addition to Cthulhu, the horsehair flower holder was also in the first raku firing. Since all the pieces are pulled out of the kiln so close together when doing a raku firing, I recruited my husband to handle Cthulhu and the actual raku part. Cthulhu was put into a metal bucket with some newspaper while still red hot, the paper ignited, and then the lid was put on and wet newspaper draped across the top to stop smoke leaking out. Then the bucket was left alone until it cooled a bit and the loveliness within was revealed. Cthulhu was also quenched in a bucket of water. I was told in a previous class that that helps the colors to stay more true, or something like that. Anyway I'm quite pleased with how he came out, although his teeth and eye slits didn't get as black as I'd hoped. I think some of the glaze ran into his eye slits, so they don't "pop" as much as they might. He's still awesome though!
The horsehair flower holder was also removed while red hot, then placed onto a kiln shelf upon which a layer of sand had been sprinkled. I let it sit just a few moments, as per the advice of another student who has done TONS of horsehair pieces, then started applying horsehair. I had actually bought feathers and metal tweezers from the craft store but completely forgot to bring them, so this was done very carefully and cautiously by hand. And of course there were no feathers. I placed a few strands of horsehair on the piece at a time, because I was worried it'd cool too quickly if I really took my time. Probably I could have gone a little slower and had more control over how it looked, but it came out just fine anyhow. :) After I finished applying horsehair, I sprinkled sugar on the piece, which left amazing smoky dots wherever it fell. Then I left it to cool down. The end result is pretty dang cool. I took a pic while it was still glowing hot, and another after the horsehair and sugar were applied.
Finally after eating, cleaning up, finishing up my spoon rests, putting my flower out to be soda fired, and leaving Cthulhu and the horsehair piece on a safe shelf, I dragged my tired self home.
After that, the only new pieces I managed to get done in-between all the other craziness going on were 3 really simple spoon rests, out of red high fire clay. I made them inside unglazed ceramic bowl molds, which helped them to dry more quickly: the unglazed surface basically sucks the moisture right out of the wet clay. Those kinds of quick n easy projects are about the only thing to do on the last day for wet clay, other than finishing up works in progress (and I didn't have any of those).
In addition to Cthulhu, the horsehair flower holder was also in the first raku firing. Since all the pieces are pulled out of the kiln so close together when doing a raku firing, I recruited my husband to handle Cthulhu and the actual raku part. Cthulhu was put into a metal bucket with some newspaper while still red hot, the paper ignited, and then the lid was put on and wet newspaper draped across the top to stop smoke leaking out. Then the bucket was left alone until it cooled a bit and the loveliness within was revealed. Cthulhu was also quenched in a bucket of water. I was told in a previous class that that helps the colors to stay more true, or something like that. Anyway I'm quite pleased with how he came out, although his teeth and eye slits didn't get as black as I'd hoped. I think some of the glaze ran into his eye slits, so they don't "pop" as much as they might. He's still awesome though!
The horsehair flower holder was also removed while red hot, then placed onto a kiln shelf upon which a layer of sand had been sprinkled. I let it sit just a few moments, as per the advice of another student who has done TONS of horsehair pieces, then started applying horsehair. I had actually bought feathers and metal tweezers from the craft store but completely forgot to bring them, so this was done very carefully and cautiously by hand. And of course there were no feathers. I placed a few strands of horsehair on the piece at a time, because I was worried it'd cool too quickly if I really took my time. Probably I could have gone a little slower and had more control over how it looked, but it came out just fine anyhow. :) After I finished applying horsehair, I sprinkled sugar on the piece, which left amazing smoky dots wherever it fell. Then I left it to cool down. The end result is pretty dang cool. I took a pic while it was still glowing hot, and another after the horsehair and sugar were applied.
Finally after eating, cleaning up, finishing up my spoon rests, putting my flower out to be soda fired, and leaving Cthulhu and the horsehair piece on a safe shelf, I dragged my tired self home.
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