Shaun Hall's Raku Ceramics Blogspot

I'm having a break from all the recent  firings to mix glazes and so forth and generally take stock. One or two beauties resulted from the last batch of Raku copper mattes- the best of the bunch being below. As always I am conscious of getting the kiln temperature just right- somewhere for me between 1040 and 1060- lets say 1050 degrees c then! The reduction always seems to work better then, although it is true you get gold/pinks at lower temperatures....it is more risky and elusive. Anyway can't wait to finish off this batch of  firings. I hope to have a try out with some saggar and terr sig ...

Tea bowls....it's a bit of a side line I'm developing...and some pleasing two tone Chawans have resulted. Some are carved on the wheel, others grooved- still learning- but they're fun to do.

I've been messing around with overlapping white and turquoise blue-copper glazes and some interesting volcanic-lava surfaces have developed. For years I've also stuck with single layer glazes in mainly copper blues or plain white- why I haven't done this before I really don't know! The future is "two tone.!" Check out the results below.

It's been a long while since I've had any work to fire- probably the first batch since the summer. So it was with trepidation that I have begun some new Raku firings. I've got a few commissions for people so this creates added pressure! At first the Copper matte results were a bit poor- a dodgy thermocouple meant that I was firing the kiln a  tad low at around- 1020oc instead of between 1040-1050- which always seems to give better results and a better chance of achieving a good oxidation and reduction during the cooling process. Once I had sussed this- and upped the temperature with the aid of a new thermocouple- the results have improved. That said the pots have been interesting, with a lot of deep copper blue- some gold flashing and a bit of red. Though not much this time around. Oh well- keep on going maybe I will get it right one day soon! More post to follow I am sure.

Belatedly. I thought I'd post some pictures of the Raku event we held at Little Myles Farm Pottery in Stondon Massey, Essex in September.  This was organised by artist and owner of the Pottery Judy Cowan and resident potter/technician extraordinaire  Tina Capener.  The Pottery  is in a wonderful country location, with landscaped grounds, and the studio facilities are excellent. Much fun was had on the day- although results it was fair to say were mixed! We ended stacking up a lot of work in the kiln-on about 4 kiln shelves- not recommended-  at one point a kiln shelf collapsed- although miraculously nothing was broken. We used some local oak wood shavings for some of the reduction, alas I think it was a bit damp so this affected the resulting reduction lustre. However plenty of decent white crackle was achieved- and the copper glaze achieved a sort of lava-gunmetal finish. Not what we were expecting (and there was some disapointment)- but as I kept saying...

The hard graft of making sculpture is over...so now it's time to do some throwing. Tune in... turn off and .....here are some results. Wheel thrown bowls

Well I have just about finished making my latest batch of slab constructed work. I started in about August-it's now November! You just can't make them quick enough. I've got to start a bit of throwing now, and get the firings on the go- I hope before Christmas... I've already got a few customer enquiries for some pots so I suppose that's a good sign. I hope if the pots fire succcesfully to hold some decent stock back with a view to generating a collection I can take to Craft shows in the coming year. Last of my slab constructed "Menhir " sculptural vessels.  Scarva earthstone clay