This year, as opposed to throwing pots on the wheel in Bertine's pottery class, I'm focusing on hand building pears.
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| Cutting whole pears in half |
Shaping the pears is satisfyingly tactile and, when they are leather hard, hollowing them out is a very meditative process.
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| Here they look like little uteri to me! |
Then, I get to put the halves back together again and let them completely dry out.
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| Waiting to be bisque fired |
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| Raku bowl 2010 |
After the bisque firing I'll glaze my pears in the hopes that I can replicate the result on my bowl, above. But, one never knows just what they will get from a raku firing! When the the required temperature is reached, in the second firing, they will be quickly removed (with tongs) from the kiln and placed in masses of combustible material (e.g., straw, sawdust, or newspaper). A metal or tin container will be placed over the lot to suffocate the fire. As I understand it, this is the process which causes the random colour and crackle. Wish me luck!
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