Wednesday, May 07, 2014

Horse Hair Raku

This is my latest raku fired pot. I came across a bottle of ferric chloride in my studio and thought I'd give it a try.
First I threw and trimmed the pot and once it was leather hard I hand burnished the vase with the back of a metal spoon. I bisque fired it to cone 08, about 1700 degrees F.
Next step was the raku kiln. When fired to temp I pulled the glowing orange pot from the kiln with a set of tongs and set it on a soft kiln brick. I let it cool for about a minute or two and then applied strands of horse hair which burned on the pot and left the black marks. Next I put on a safety respirator and sprayed the ferric chloride onto the pot from an ordinary plastic spray bottle, which gave it the nice brownish color. To enhance the sheen I applied a light coat of paste wax and buffed it to make it more glossy.

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