In between a spot of experimental archaeology over the summer I found time to get some Raku firings done. I've been taking the temperature up higher for the copper matte's - between 1050/1070 degrees c. Generally this means with some controlled timings of at least 2 "burps" of letting oxygen into the reduction bin- that results and colours are more stable and uniform. As a consequence of firing at hotter temperatures- the colour palette is also somewhat different. I can get blues, reds and greens- but gold and pink is now harder to come by! These tend to occur at lower temperatures- around the 1000-1040 mark- and are more fleeting. They are often superb- but can easily result in drab mottled browns and olive greens. Not what you want. They are sometimes redeemable by twice firing- but that's a risky business. Oh well I'm quite happy with these new results anyway- and percentage wise- it's better to fire hotter- with 2 time controlled bursts of air ...