Usually about once a year, I get the amazing opportunity to participate in a raku firing with some members of my ceramic community.  I love anytime I get to fire my work and open the kiln to see the finished pieces, but raku is a completely different and very exciting process!

Raku firings are a special type of ceramic firing where the fired raku piece is removed from the kiln while still glowing hot.  I love seeing pieces at this stage, because it isn’t typically something you get to see up close and personal.  The pieces glow orange and fiery, the glaze bubbly.

After the piece is removed, it is placed in a container (we used trash cans) filled with combustible material (we used newspaper) in order to get really neat effects on the surface of the wares.

The whole process can be a lot of work, but it’s definitely worth it – some of my favorite pieces have been fired this way!  To top it all off, we head to a beautiful piece of land up north of Santa Rosa in northern California, and I just love being there in the hills with the amazing trees and creatures.

Between the raku and the fresh air (when away from the firing…), it is definitely one of my favorite days of the year!

Oh, and there are puppies!

Below are a few more snaps from the day this past weekend.  Enjoy!

Xox.