Creative Porcelain Porcelain – Raku

Ceramic art development to today, the birth of many kinds of firing process, There is a fast, fun known, compared to the traditional days, dozens of hours, dozens of hours to complete the wood burning, gas burning, it only takes one or two hours to reach the preset temperature, it is – Raku.

In the Japanese context, Raku (yaki) refers to tea vessels fired at high temperatures in the chai kiln using the “tezune” method (early hand-held spatula cutting, and later slow or fast wheel pulling). The firing process, which is popular in Japan, is similar to sand production in northern China and dates back 450 years.

Rakyu means happiness and refers to the graceful mood of tea drinkers enjoying the Japanese tea ceremony, which originated in the Momoyama era (16th century) of Japan. A master of tea ceremony, Chirikyu Chirikyu, was a well-known figure in the government and the public at that time. He put forward “wabi-sabi beauty,” which attached importance to the process of drinking tea and the simplicity of the teahouse.

Chirikyu introduced the works of pottery master Jiro and Oseki Sojuro to one of the most influential warlords of the time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The word “le” has been passed down from generation to generation in the ceramic family, after Oseki Sajuro presented the ceramic works with the gold “le” to Hideyoshi. Each piece clearly reflects the creator’s respect for the tea ceremony culture and his own unique aesthetic taste.

In the middle of the last century, after the music was spread to the United States and other western countries, with the rise of modern pottery, it was widely popular and developed a more distinctive Western-style music. In contrast, Japanese rakyu emphasizes reverence for the traditional tea ceremony culture and is more of a stylized behavior. The western style music burners break the tradition, biased towards the exploration of materials and experimental performance.From simple smoky color to brilliant luster, from figurative to abstract sculpture, Raku is free to control.

The Burning Process

1.First, the formed blank voxel is burned (800 ~ 1000 ° C).​The billet must be mixed with 10 ~ 20% clinker or sagger powder, so that it can withstand rapid temperature rise and fall without bursting.

2.Glazing: Glaze, dip glaze, spray glaze or color can be applied to the green body that has been burned, and then fired in the kiln. Because of the characteristic of Le firing is deliberately not to burn the green body to porcelain, in order to smoke the adsorption of carbon, so the firing temperature is low, so most of the low-temperature glaze with lead or boron.​​​​

3.kiln burning: The Lei kiln is generally a cotton kiln (light, resistant to high temperatures, with fire-resistant bricks at the base). After the kiln is installed, it is first baked with a small fire, gradually increasing the fire until the red surface of the clay enamel shows a red glow, which indicates that the temperature has reached the degree of melting the enamel, that is, the degree to which the fire is extinguished and the kiln opens.As for how much temperature can reach this level, depending on the temperature suitable for glaze deployment, generally around 900 ~ 1100 °C.​​

4.Out of the kiln: Prepare an iron drum in advance with shredded newspaper, wood chips or personal preference organic matter, such as dried leaves and shells. When exiting the kiln, the green body is quickly clamped into the iron barrel one by one with fire tongs. In an instant, the newspaper sawdust in the barrel is ignited, spewing out a raging fire, such as a bath fire rebirth, which makes people look forward to the birth of wonderful works.

5.Cooling and reduction: When the red body is carried into the barrel, the material inside is ignited, and when the flame rises, the lid is quickly covered, because the air is blocked, the flame disappears and is replaced by thick white smoke. After about 15 to 30 minutes of smoldering, clip out into the water to prevent re-oxidation.​​

6.Complete: The work is cooled in the water to the extent that it is not hot, then it can be taken out, and the surface is brushed with coarse vegetable melon cloth or steel ball, and then washed with water.

From the firing of the kiln to the cooling of the kiln can be held in the hand, which only takes about two or three hours.

Happy Burning Works ↓ ↓ ↓

🏺Low temperature firing, the body is not porcelain, more fragile.

🏺The rapid reduction not only causes the rough body to absorb carbon, and the thick and varied black tones make the glaze more vivid, but also causes some metal oxides to be reduced to pure metal, and a metallic film with a flashing nature on the surface is quite brilliant.

🏺Rapid cooling is easy to cause glaze ice crack effect, fine cracks, is also a good decorative effect.

🏺Lead or boron is often used as the flux, and heavy metals are fired at low temperature, so the fired utensils cannot be used as food utensils.🏺The time and degree of the reduction of the green body in the iron drum are different, and the organic combustion in the drum can also be changed at will, so the results of burning are very random and unique.
Operational Safety Issues ↓ ↓ ↓

⚡️Attention: fire-resistant gloves, fire-resistant apron, mask, tongs, iron hook to protect the operator from burns.

⚡️Operating occasions: Choose a well-ventilated outdoor, no shelter, and a spacious and non-flammable place around.

⚡️When glaze medicine is about to melt, avoid inhaling glaze gas (toxic).