GIP
Some of you know I've been raku firing. Actually, over three days I've done ELEVEN raku loads, and today was the last three. So, when I found these icons, I went ZOMG, THEM'S ART WERDS!
They're made by mymorphine at her(?) icon comm unumbrella. She's got a LOAD of KHR icons. Reasons for me to watch/read this just keep piling up, srsly.
SERIOUSLY. ART WERDS.
Actually, I'm full of baloney on the source of the word, but that's pretty much what it is- trashcans (or holes in the ground if you're hardcore) and getting smoke in your eyes. Traditionally, for me raku is another chance to be pleased I do not wear contacts (the others being eye makeup and pollen season). It's also an excuse to set shit on fire for fun and be thought an intellectual for doing so. WIN.
On a slightly more technical note, this is how you do it:
Get a tank of gas, usually acetylene, but anything flammable works.
Get a nozzle, so you can set it on fire in a controlled manner. Now, either get a kiln whose lid comes all the way off, or build one by stacking firebricks. You will need a lid that is easy to remove quickly and safely that ALSO holds in the heat. Asbestos bolted to a heavy-gauge screen on handles works well, if you don't want to go buy one.
Put the glazed ceramics in the kiln and set your fire into the hole you left (RIGHT?) in the side, so the kiln heats up. A pyrometer is also a good idea, so you only have to check for shine when it's in the right temperature range.
Wait until it reaches 1800 to 2000 degrees and the glaze, when you look in through the hole you remembered to leave in the lid (RIGHT?), is shiny. This is somewhat important, because if it ain't shiny when it's hot, it won't be shiny after it's cooled down. Also the colors don't develop, because you didn't cook it long enough for the glass in the glaze to melt and the chemicals and oxides to work their magic.
So it's hot and shiny. Then you take the lid off, grab some tongs (and gloves, and a face shield is also nice), pull the piece from the kiln, wave it around (sedately, it's about two thousand degrees) through the air to "oxidize" it (important for certain colors, like white and green), and put the glowing hot ceramic into a trashcan full of newspaper or leaves or both.
Which promptly catches on fire.
Repeat.
(While you pull, your lovely assistant will toss in more burnables atop the ceramic you just put in, and after it's good and burning put the lid on the trashcan to contain the smoky goodness that turns the clay black and the glaze oil-puddle rainbow. Some people like to wrap the cans in wet towels to contain the smoke, others just do their best to stand upwind and squint a lot because that makes them COOL.)
So, that's what I did today, and last Saturday, and the Wednesday before that. My teacher and I even had a conversation about her burning her eyelashes off, and that is why the icons are horribly appropriate. :3
Also today I epoxied the broken tiles (because stuff does break in this, it's a hell of a thermal shock to put ceramic through, but out of twenty-four tiles, four broke, and one because I dropped it- this is fantastic), glued feathers to ceramic critters (goldfinch + gerbil = ??? YOU NAME THEM, I've been calling them "berbils," "creepy little birds," and "gerbils."), aaaand... that's about it.
Photos of work to come, if I remember. ♥
They're made by mymorphine at her(?) icon comm unumbrella. She's got a LOAD of KHR icons. Reasons for me to watch/read this just keep piling up, srsly.
SERIOUSLY. ART WERDS.
Actually, I'm full of baloney on the source of the word, but that's pretty much what it is- trashcans (or holes in the ground if you're hardcore) and getting smoke in your eyes. Traditionally, for me raku is another chance to be pleased I do not wear contacts (the others being eye makeup and pollen season). It's also an excuse to set shit on fire for fun and be thought an intellectual for doing so. WIN.
On a slightly more technical note, this is how you do it:
Get a tank of gas, usually acetylene, but anything flammable works.
Get a nozzle, so you can set it on fire in a controlled manner. Now, either get a kiln whose lid comes all the way off, or build one by stacking firebricks. You will need a lid that is easy to remove quickly and safely that ALSO holds in the heat. Asbestos bolted to a heavy-gauge screen on handles works well, if you don't want to go buy one.
Put the glazed ceramics in the kiln and set your fire into the hole you left (RIGHT?) in the side, so the kiln heats up. A pyrometer is also a good idea, so you only have to check for shine when it's in the right temperature range.
Wait until it reaches 1800 to 2000 degrees and the glaze, when you look in through the hole you remembered to leave in the lid (RIGHT?), is shiny. This is somewhat important, because if it ain't shiny when it's hot, it won't be shiny after it's cooled down. Also the colors don't develop, because you didn't cook it long enough for the glass in the glaze to melt and the chemicals and oxides to work their magic.
So it's hot and shiny. Then you take the lid off, grab some tongs (and gloves, and a face shield is also nice), pull the piece from the kiln, wave it around (sedately, it's about two thousand degrees) through the air to "oxidize" it (important for certain colors, like white and green), and put the glowing hot ceramic into a trashcan full of newspaper or leaves or both.
Which promptly catches on fire.
Repeat.
(While you pull, your lovely assistant will toss in more burnables atop the ceramic you just put in, and after it's good and burning put the lid on the trashcan to contain the smoky goodness that turns the clay black and the glaze oil-puddle rainbow. Some people like to wrap the cans in wet towels to contain the smoke, others just do their best to stand upwind and squint a lot because that makes them COOL.)
So, that's what I did today, and last Saturday, and the Wednesday before that. My teacher and I even had a conversation about her burning her eyelashes off, and that is why the icons are horribly appropriate. :3
Also today I epoxied the broken tiles (because stuff does break in this, it's a hell of a thermal shock to put ceramic through, but out of twenty-four tiles, four broke, and one because I dropped it- this is fantastic), glued feathers to ceramic critters (goldfinch + gerbil = ??? YOU NAME THEM, I've been calling them "berbils," "creepy little birds," and "gerbils."), aaaand... that's about it.
Photos of work to come, if I remember. ♥