Smoking pots!

That's smoking potS not pot. We went to a Raku Party. This event was an auction item at Katie's high school's fund raising auction last spring, and I won. Since we were limited in the number of participants, the original Monday nighters got a chance to created Raku pots with one of Katie's former teachers, Terri and her pot partner, Jimmy at their ceramic studio. They have a wonderful studio with a beautiful garden to work in. Here's a little of how it went.

First we picked out pots that Terri & Jimmy had already thrown and fired. So many choices, so little time. The next step was to wax the parts that we wanted to remain black, like Katie is doing here, and then dip it into the glaze so it is ready to be fired.




Here Jimmy, as Rob watches intently, has the kiln all loaded and the pots ready to be fired. This big kiln is then closed up and we wait til the temp inside the kiln hits the magic number of 1800 degrees and they they are ready to come out.


This is a great picture of our last firing run as these pots are ready to come out of the kiln. Isn't it cool looking in the dark?


As soon as they come out of the kiln, Jimmy & Terri put the pots into garbage cans with paper in them. This is the "smoking pots" part and where they cool down.

And finally viola' POTS! This picture doesn't do them justice. They all turned out very differently, its all part of the magical process.


A thousand thanks to Jimmy & Terri for all of their hospitality, teaching and generosity. It was truly an experience of a lifetime!!!