I fell in love with Raku!

I have known about the raku process for many years. When I had my first invitation to participate in a raku firing I jumped at the  opportunity. I was with a group of Potters Place members and we spent the entire day doing 3 firings. The pieces that came out of the fire were amazing and so I have been eager to do more. A former member of our studio, Jen, invited me to join her with her raku kiln, and I’m so glad she did!

The raku process is so exciting and the results are amazing. My pieces included a lidded box, a few gnomes, and some owls.

Clay that is raku fired has a special shine and metallic look. It is one of my favorite glaze and firing outcomes.

I love trying new projects and putting my mind and skills to the test. I find I get inspiration from all over and I particularly have an affinity for the whimsical. I just completed a series of owls. I liked the second one I made than the first, so I just continued.  I now have an owl piggy bank that I hope to pass to my granddaughter.

I became interested in pottery after college when I was living back in my home town. I took a hand building class and loved the creative process. Many years later I decided to try again and found Potters Place. I took lessons there for a few years and then became a member. As a member I enjoy spending time practicing my hand building and wheel throwing techniques.

I get inspired by many things I see in life. I pull from memories, places, suggestions, curiosity, and whimsy!

I love the texture, getting dirty, seeing something be created out of a lump of clay, and mostly the single focus on the clay and learning from it. I find it amazing how anything can be used as a pottery tool.

What I like most about (working) playing with clay is that there is a relationship between the potter and the clay - more of a corroboration of sorts. Sometimes the clay does what it wants to and sometimes it will do what you are asking it to do. A lesson in "letting go".

The process of creating functional pieces from a ball or slab of clay is so rewarding and the entire process is therapeutic and relaxing. I have been working on some pieces whose shapes and glazes create a look of movement.

I also enjoy trying new textures, glaze combinations and different types of clay bodies.

This piece is from my first raku firing and I think it came out pretty well. I like the crackled finish of the glaze and the blackness of the clay as contrast.

The next photo is of a piece that I also like a lot. Unfortunately I have not been able to reproduce the color of the glaze effect. I think the results are wonderful and I’m glad that I have this piece to enjoy.

One of the things I enjoy about being a member is having the time to test my curiosity and, if the results are not what I expected, then I learned something new. For example, I have been trying new shapes and glaze combinations and some turned out better than others.

This ties in with one of my greatest challenges in pottery - letting go of the expectation that a piece will turn out the way I had intended it to. It's a lesson I have also applied to life in general, which is an on-going challenge in the world as we now know it.