On August 16th, 2008 the Palouse Studio Potters Guild added to the 104 degree heat in Lewiston with our raku firing.
Michael carefully places the pottery in the raku kiln.
Once the kiln has reached sufficient temperature, the pots are removed when red hot. Michael is doing the honors here, Carolyn is standing by with an air hose which will make the molten glaze crackle. Barb watches.
After the pot has been taken out of the kiln it's placed in a can with newspaper, here it has caught fire and Carolyn is putting the lid on it to force a reduction.
Judith is doing a variation on the raku technique. After the pot is taken out of the kiln she carefully places horse hair on the hot surface, which had been polished with terra sigilatta before raku firing. The horse hair immediately burns and leaves a curly trail of carbon, which is permanent. The pot on the right has already been designed with horse hair.
