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In This Issue
* While the Smoke Clears
* Smokeless Alcohol Raku
* Pac-Man Fever
* Shelf Eating Glaze Again
* Inherited Clay
* Flame On
* Raku Links
* Workshops
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* While the Smoke Clears * Hello Again. Are you ready? You know...for the holiday season! It is
right on top of us. So if you are preparing for shows or
home sales, good luck to you. It is always an exciting
time. If you are a US Raku-er, I want to wish you an early Happy
Thanksgiving to you and your family. We always have about a
dozen people at our house so, hectic is usually and
understatement, but it is always exciting and memorable. [Shameless plug warning...]
Don't wait till the last minute to get gifts for your Raku
friends. Raku Secrets and/or Raku Glazes makes a wonderful
gift www.cherrycreekpublishing.com or if you want to make
your own Raku gifts (there is still time), don't forget the
Raku Beads CD eBook www.rakubeadjewelry.com . Anyway, there is a lot covered in this issue, so I will let
you get to it. As always, I look forward to your feedback,
suggestions, questions, and article ideas at:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
~-~-~
"I must thank you for all the great recipes. I was a bit
stuck for new recipes. I'll be here for thirty years
trying all these out." - Simon D. http://www.rakuglazes.com
~-~-~ * Smokeless Alcohol Raku No this does not involve the ATF (Alcohol Tobacco and
Firearms), but deals with a question from a reader:
"I visited the Vacaville, CA Art Gallery, and the owner had
a Raku piece that had blue with white crackle. He said he
used an alcohol reduction method that caused the blue to
fill the space where it would have been black. He described
something about putting several inches of water in the
bottom of his reduction chamber with a bisque platter on
top. He then put about 1/4 cup of alcohol on the platter.
I'm making small "sea forms" and would love to use this
method. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. This sounds likes a "smokeless" Raku technique using
denatured alcohol. There is a technique in which you take
a large tub and place a few inches of water in the bottom.
Then you place enough bricks in the middle of the water to
create a little island. Then place a small bisque dish on
the stack of bricks. Place a small amount of denatured
alcohol in the bisque dish. You then remove your Raku piece
from the kiln and set it on the dish. The alcohol will
ignite immediately. Then place a metal can (like a garbage
can) over the piece and down into the water (so the rim of
the can is under water). The metal can will try to "float"
so have a heavy rock or brick available to place on top (of
the bottom) of the can. This creates an air lock and the
burning alcohol will consume the oxygen and create a
reduction atmosphere (without smoke). This ideally works
with small pieces, but if your containers are large enough
you can do this with large pieces too. ~-~-~
"Our class fired again last night, and the instructor
followed your tips and voila. Boy do we have copper. Its
great knowing we can do it, and I really appreciate your
help. Thanks again!"-Shannon P. http://www.rakusecrets.com
~-~-~ * Pac-Man Fever Anyone remember that song from the early 80s? Well a reader
asked the following: I copied your "More Free Raku Glaze Formulas" off the
Internet and have a question about your Pac-Man formula. It
is stated as follows:
Post Pac-Man
Gerstly Borate 50
Nephline Syenite 30
Bone Ash 30
Copper Carbonate 30
Red Iron Oxide 2.5
Bentonite .5
Can you confirm these quantities? I'm assuming they are
percentages but they do not add up to 100% like most of
your formulas. Yes, this is a correct recipe but it is not the Pac-Man in
Robert Piepenburg's book (see below). This recipe is mixed
by weight and indeed does not total to 100%. Some recipes
are just not normalized to 100%. Now the other Pac-Man recipe (included in my Raku Glazes
book at http://www.rakuglazes.com is as follows and is
mixed by volume: Post Pac-Man II
5 parts Gerstley Borate
1 parts Bone Ash
1 part Nepheline Syenite
1 part Copper Carbonate
1/8 part Red Iron Oxide Try them both and let me know your results.
~-~-~
Fired Up with Raku is the recently released book by Irene
Poulton is now available. Check out the details at:
http://www.garyrferguson.com/firedupwithraku.htm
I will only be making this available for a few more days.
~-~-~ * Shelf Eating Glaze Again In the last issue I included an opinion about glaze left on
a shelf for repeated firings and I had a couple responses:
one who wrote an article for Pottery Making Illustrated and
one who read that article. Bill wrote:
Glaze drips left on an insulating fire brick or a hard fire
brick or a cordierite/mullite/silicon carbide kiln shelf
will, if sufficient in size, re-melt during each firing and
WILL corrode/eat through the surface. It certainly may take
longer to eat through the harder surfaces, but it will
happen! Cordierite kiln shelves have a 15-20%
porosity/absorption rate, so glaze will migrate through the
shelf. That's why one should use kiln wash, I suggest a
50/50 mix of alumina & kaolin, and chip/grind all glaze
drips off before re-firing. The only shelves I know where
this probably won't happen are nitride bonded silicon
carbide shelves. We use these at 610 with no kiln wash! But
due to issues with thermal shock, I would advise against
using these in Raku
firings. So, I guess the safe answer is always remove the glaze
drips from your shelves between firings and protect them
with a good coating of kiln wash. ~-~-~
After reading Sue's book I discovered dozens of tips,
techniques, and methods of creating Raku beads and jewelry
that I never would have thought of. The hundreds of color
photos are not only instructional but inspiring as well.
There is a new idea to try on almost every page. This book
is a gold mine!" http://www.rakubeadjewelry.com
~-~-~ * Inherited Clay AJ Asked:
I just inherited 200 pounds of cone 6 Porcelain clay. Does
this have to be bisqued at cone 6? Would a lower temp be
harmful to the integrity? (I normally use Raku clay and
fire at 04) I'm hand building with this clay and am hoping
that a Raku fire will not crack every single piece. The quick answer is No, it does not have to be fired to
cone 6. My favorite Raku clay is actually a cone 10
stoneware clay. In fact you typically don't want to use a
low-fired clay that will vitrify at Raku temperatures so
that the clay body will remain "open" and have a better
chance of surviving the thermal shock of the Raku firing or
reduction. ~-~-~
Discover the secrets to creating multiple streams of income
using the power of eBay. A Powerseller shows you how at:
http://www.planetsms.co.uk/partners/?a=9OpcT9Pu&p=1
~-~-~ * Flame On Sandi asks:
I just got my own Raku kiln. I have done some Raku firing
in classes I have taken but someone else was always in
control of the burner. I fired my own kiln the other day
and I realized I don't know how to set the burners or when
to take the pots out of the kiln to put in the reduction
buckets. I think since I'm new at it I'm a bit afraid of
it. Can you help me? Firing a Raku kiln does take a little practice but after a
few times you be an "old pro." When I fire my kiln I start out with the lowest setting I
can have a still get a steady flame. I do this for about 5
to 10 minutes to makes sure any remaining water in the
glaze is driven off. Then I turn the burner up so a have a fairly strong flame
(but not roaring) until I get up to about 1000F. Then I
turn it up higher (to the roaring level) until the glaze is
mature. I basically set my burner more based on sound than
anything. I would recommend using either a pyrometer or standing
cones to give you an idea of maturity. The best method, at
least with glossy glazes, is visually inspecting the piece
in the kiln to see if they glaze is shimmering. So my recommendation is to fire some of your test pieces,
or seconds for your first few firings. Then as your
experience grows start firing your better pieces and you
should have better results. ~-~-~
"It's all your fault! I was up all night reading "Raku
Secrets". I have been Rakuing for about ten years, and
still so much to learn. Your Raku Secrets gave me a lot of
new insight. Thanks so much". - Elaine S.
http://www.rakusecrets.com
~-~-~ * Click Away * Mary Diddle http://www.marydiddle.com/open.htm
Jan Lee http://www.mudfire.com/jan-lee.htm Raku Glazes http://www.rakuglazes.com
Raku Secrets http://www.rakusecrets.com
Raku Beads http://www.rakubeadjewelry.com
Got Raku? http://www.cafepress.com/gotraku
Just Raku Archive http://www.JustRaku.com
Just Raku Blog http://justraku.blogspot.com
Hypnotic Auctions http://www.hypnoticauctions.com ~-~-~
Books, Music, Videos and that's just the start. Amazon
sells more than books! Help support this newsletter by
using this link: http://www.garyrferguson.com/amazon
~-~-~ * Workshops and Seminars None Currently
~-~-~
Learn the secrets to creating eBay auctions that get more
bids and higher final prices. Don't list artwork, or
anything else without this book by your side.
http://www.hypnoticauctions.com
~-~-~ This newsletter is send to opt-in members only. If this
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JUST RAKU (C) Copyright 2002-2006 Gary R. Ferguson
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