Raku Firing at Your Place
District Clay Fee: $700 includes on-site instruction, glazes, portable kilns and firing of 36 pieces of ceramic ware. Bisqued ceramic ware for a firing can provided by Ray at an additional cost*. This workshop accomodates up to 12 participants
for each four-hour firing.
This is an dramatic and exciting outdoor workshop at your place. No prior ceramic experience is required. Masks are required to be worn during the workshop.
(To take a raku workshop with Ray at District Clay, please go here.)
About Raku
Raku firings are the most dramatic form of ceramic firing. They involve quickly heating bisqued pots in outdoor kilns to 1,800 degrees, then plunging the red-hot pots into trash cans that are filled with combustible materials. The trash cans burst into flame and smoke, which is quickly smothered. This type of extreme firing, created in Japan centuries ago, yields some of the most dramatic glazed surfaces in the ceramic repertoire, including iridescent greens and reds and white on black crackle glazes.
Raku is not only exciting to create but it is also a masterclass in how ceramic glazes are created. Raku firing utilizes both oxidation and reduction firings to create its dramatic surfaces with different stages in reduction firing turning the same glaze from an iridescent green to red.
About Ray’s Raku Workshops
Ray’s Raku firings are highly interactive and hands-on. Participants are carefully trained how to retrieve hot ware from the raku kiln using tongs and fireproof gloves and deposit it in reduction cans. Participants also monitor reduction cans, fill them with sawdust and learn to smother the fire at the precise time. Once the ware has cooled, students will then scrub their pots of the charcoal and smoke residue to reveal the amazing colors underneath.
Because firings involve handling of extremely hot ceramic ware and monitoring reduction cans which emit fire and smoke, raku firings present inherent dangers. The organizer must sign a waiver of responsibility before the firing begins.
About the Firing
Ray’s Raku kilns are made from trashcans lined with ceramic fiber which makes them highly efficient and portable. Each kiln holds 3-8 pieces depending upon the size of the work. Along with the kilns Ray utilizes 6-8 small "reduction" cans filled with sawdust where pieces are placed when removed hot from the kiln.
Each kiln load typically takes about 30 mins to reach 1800 degrees and the pieces are ready to be pulled. When doing workshops Ray uses two kilns and times them so they reach temp about 15 mins apart. This allows many kiln loads to be fired in a short time.
This collaborative outdoor workshop that requires considerable space to put on. I
Firing Basics
The workshop participants are involved in all aspects of the firing process while Ray closely monitors and manages the overall process. Tasks involved with the process are:
- Glazing pieces for firing
- Loading kilns
- Monitoring temperature rise
- Preparing reduction cans
- Pulling fired pieces from the kiln
- Cleaning finished pieces
- Taking your work home!
Additional expenses*
Ray can supply 36 pieces of bisqued ware suitable for raku firing for an additional $150 (12 cups and 24 5x7 tiles: one cup and two tiles per participant.)
Ray Bogle:
Ray has been working clay for over 30 years and with Raku and other Alternative Firing Techniques for over 20 years. Since his first exposure to Raku firing, he has grown to enjoy the interactiveness and spontaneity of the technique and the uniqueness of each piece. He runs District Clay Raku Firing Program, which offers both raku firings at District Clay and private events at different venues. He specializes with Naked Raku and Pit Firing techniques, conducts workshops throughout the Washington DC area, and teaches pottery for the Community College of Southern Maryland and at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Art Center.
If you have questions about hosting a workshop at your place, please send Ray a note: rbogle (at) comcast (dot) net.
District Clay Fee: $700 includes on-site instruction, glazes, portable kilns and firing of 36 pieces of ceramic ware. Bisqued ceramic ware for a firing can provided by Ray at an additional cost*. This workshop accomodates up to 12 participants
for each four-hour firing.
This is an dramatic and exciting outdoor workshop at your place. No prior ceramic experience is required. Masks are required to be worn during the workshop.
(To take a raku workshop with Ray at District Clay, please go here.)
About Raku
Raku firings are the most dramatic form of ceramic firing. They involve quickly heating bisqued pots in outdoor kilns to 1,800 degrees, then plunging the red-hot pots into trash cans that are filled with combustible materials. The trash cans burst into flame and smoke, which is quickly smothered. This type of extreme firing, created in Japan centuries ago, yields some of the most dramatic glazed surfaces in the ceramic repertoire, including iridescent greens and reds and white on black crackle glazes.
Raku is not only exciting to create but it is also a masterclass in how ceramic glazes are created. Raku firing utilizes both oxidation and reduction firings to create its dramatic surfaces with different stages in reduction firing turning the same glaze from an iridescent green to red.
About Ray’s Raku Workshops
Ray’s Raku firings are highly interactive and hands-on. Participants are carefully trained how to retrieve hot ware from the raku kiln using tongs and fireproof gloves and deposit it in reduction cans. Participants also monitor reduction cans, fill them with sawdust and learn to smother the fire at the precise time. Once the ware has cooled, students will then scrub their pots of the charcoal and smoke residue to reveal the amazing colors underneath.
Because firings involve handling of extremely hot ceramic ware and monitoring reduction cans which emit fire and smoke, raku firings present inherent dangers. The organizer must sign a waiver of responsibility before the firing begins.
About the Firing
Ray’s Raku kilns are made from trashcans lined with ceramic fiber which makes them highly efficient and portable. Each kiln holds 3-8 pieces depending upon the size of the work. Along with the kilns Ray utilizes 6-8 small "reduction" cans filled with sawdust where pieces are placed when removed hot from the kiln.
Each kiln load typically takes about 30 mins to reach 1800 degrees and the pieces are ready to be pulled. When doing workshops Ray uses two kilns and times them so they reach temp about 15 mins apart. This allows many kiln loads to be fired in a short time.
This collaborative outdoor workshop that requires considerable space to put on. I
Firing Basics
The workshop participants are involved in all aspects of the firing process while Ray closely monitors and manages the overall process. Tasks involved with the process are:
- Glazing pieces for firing
- Loading kilns
- Monitoring temperature rise
- Preparing reduction cans
- Pulling fired pieces from the kiln
- Cleaning finished pieces
- Taking your work home!
Additional expenses*
Ray can supply 36 pieces of bisqued ware suitable for raku firing for an additional $150 (12 cups and 24 5x7 tiles: one cup and two tiles per participant.)
Ray Bogle:
Ray has been working clay for over 30 years and with Raku and other Alternative Firing Techniques for over 20 years. Since his first exposure to Raku firing, he has grown to enjoy the interactiveness and spontaneity of the technique and the uniqueness of each piece. He runs District Clay Raku Firing Program, which offers both raku firings at District Clay and private events at different venues. He specializes with Naked Raku and Pit Firing techniques, conducts workshops throughout the Washington DC area, and teaches pottery for the Community College of Southern Maryland and at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Art Center.
If you have questions about hosting a workshop at your place, please send Ray a note: rbogle (at) comcast (dot) net.
To schedule a District Clay Raku Firing Workshop at Your Place, click here.
