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Students create beautiful pottery with Raku firing

Last Friday, our pottery students got to experiment with raku firing. This special process uses a propane tank for fuel, an open flame burner, and a small raku kiln. Each firing takes about 45 minutes to bring a piece of pottery to temperature. The piece is taken out of the kiln orange hot and placed into a small metal trash can with paper. The paper burns for 10-20 seconds, then the trash can is covered so that a reduction atmosphere can occur. After a 5-minute wait, the piece is thrust into a container of water to stop the process. It produces beautiful results that can be achieved no other way!