2026-06-17: A raku firing with friends

On June 13th I went with some pottery friends to a rural location not far from Reykjavík to perform a Western-style raku firing - a method initially inspired by traditional Japanese raku-ware but developed in America by studio potters in the mid-20th century. It involves firing pots very rapidly to high temperatures (around 1000°C), removing them from the kiln while still hot and manipulating the development of glaze and clay colors through the cooling process. It was an incredibly exciting and fun day with a lovely group of people!

About a week before the real event, my friend Íris (the lucky owner of the raku kiln) and I performed a test firing with small bowls that I had thrown off the hump (so-called because the pieces are thrown off the top of a large "hump" of clay and then cut away before the next piece is thrown) to make sure the kiln was in working order and to test our glaze recipes. We learned a great deal in this first test and were well prepared for the proper firing a week later. Everyone had brought a small bisque-fired piece or two to place in the gas kiln, which was rapidly brought to about 1000°C before the pieces were carefully removed and placed in reduction chambers (metal buckets with sawdust or newspaper) to reveal fine black cracks in the glaze and affect colors through starving them of oxygen. It's a fascinating process on the chemical level, and very thrilling to experience.

I had made and bisque fired a globe-shaped vase, and decided to finish it with a glaze containing 5% copper carbonate. Copper is a fascinating ingredient especially in reduction firings, since it changes color from vibrant greens to metallic oranges and reds. It emerged from the kiln a dull green color, and I placed it in a bucket with shredded newspaper, closing the lid tightly for about ten minutes. The most exciting part of the firing process is probably pulling the piece from the bucket and seeing how it was affected by the reduction. I was delighted that my vase displayed incredible bright green and turquoise next to striking copper orange patches where the glaze was starved of oxygen. The other glazes we had made, a transparent base that shows bright white clay underneath it, and the same base with 8% red iron oxide, also came out gorgeous and I think everyone went home with a piece they loved.

I can already feel myself getting addicted to this firing method. Although it has diverged quite a bit from the original term "raku" from the Japanese tradition, it is a fantastic process in its own right. Being able to see the pots as they are being fired was a new experience for me, watching the glazes bubbling and changing colors made it all much more intimate. A big plus was not only being able to fire and finish a piece in a single day, but also spending time with wonderful people in a beautiful place, talking about a shared passion and learning something new together. It was a social experience that I was definitely missing from my pottery practice.

Our next firing is planned in mid-July and I am already thinking about what to make next!