Raku is an ancient Japanese technique which has been adapted and adopted by modern ceramicists to create wonderful crackled and lustred surfaces of pots by an exciting and risky process. The bisque fired pots are glazed and then heated to 1000 degrees centigrade before being removed from the kiln and placed in a container with combustible materials which ignite on contact. The lid is then put on, sealing in the smoke and reducing the oxygen in the container. This allows the smoke to blacken the unglazed areas and to darken and emphasise the crazing in the glazed surface creating the distinctive raku patterns. Some of the glazes will turn different colours and sometimes become very shiny. The results are unpredictable and the pots may crack due to the shock of removing at high temperature. However some very beautiful, interesting unique effects can be achieved.

Naked raku does not mean wearing no clothes whilst firing, but refers to the fact that the pot is burnished smooth but not glazed before being heated and taken from the kiln. It is then possible to apply horsehair or feathers to the hot surface which will burn on contact but leave black impressions and trails on the pot surface - again, unique and exciting effects can be achieved. 

I will have raku fired pots in the online shop as and when there is a firing and each will be a one-off unique piece.