A Dance with Fire and Smoke

It was the only way I knew how to do it, the way Marsha does it. And it was perfect. The day finally came when I was going to do a raku firing.  I pulled into Magnolia Farm, the home of my friend and art mentor Marsha who owns Back Porch pottery studio. Marsha had the small kiln already pumping full of heat to get to that magical temperature for our pieces inside.  I am convinced raku firing is a dance you do with fire and smoke and at the end of the evening when the dance is over, you pray you have a little beauty in your hands to show for all your glorious effort.  Each time we dug through the sawdust to find our newly created treasures, we were amazed at the aged beauty before us, unbroken and ready to be revealed.

Raku firing doodle of my experience.

Here are a few close ups of the pieces made that day.

White glaze used on a small plant pot

Unlike most all my other clay work, I added very little texture as the crackle effect of the raku glaze is what you are seeking through this experience and it conceals most all texture.

Lime green glaze leaf pendant

I use a high fire wire in some of my jewelry pieces that is specially created to withstand the high temperatures of the kiln.

Small lime green glaze dish that was so hot it turned almost all copper.

The inside of a 3 footed plant pot. Yellow and red glazes used.

Whatever is not glazed will turn a nice matte black.

Emerald green glaze on a 3 footed plant pot.

Had to add a little bee!

White glaze large cross

I owe a big thank you to Marsha for making this raku firing experience possible for me. Thank you!!

As I create each jewelry piece by hand, I will list them in my etsy shop Lynndylan Designs. Visit my shop if you wish, as I try to list a few a week. Or if you would be interested to see my creative life expressed on Instagram, find me at @artistholiday. I mostly post pictures of my artwork with my creative writing.

Building this creative life one experience at a time~

Hannah