Raku Pit Fire Pt. 6

Oooops, sorry 'bout the hold up peeps. Mom and I went on a five day road trip (well 2 of the days were on the road) visting friends in Colorado.
Oh, and apparently this is not a Raku firing, it's just a pit fire. Some poor art student out there totally failed their class. I'm too lazy to go change all the titles, so let's just get to the final product, shall we?

Nikita sees something in there. Why, it's Potterman! The coals must be dying. Or maybe he's going for a quick sauna. just kidding! Look at that!!!! The pots have emerged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After Potterman carefully pulled them out with gloves and tongs, we brushed them off. There was much oohing and aahing. There were squeals of excitement. There may have been some hopping up and down and hand clapping.

There was definitely fly catching mouth action. Unearthing treasure from an ancient Egyptian tomb literally would not have been as amazing, because we were THERE. We witnessed the creation of the most beautiful pieces of art I have ever seen.

I think at the time I said "yowza". There just aren't adequate words for these pots- I'll have to stick with the usual suspects; amazing, beautiful, gorgeous, and so on.

Wow.

Raku Pit Fire Pt. 5

Fiiiiiiire.

Responsible watering.

Testing the oven.

Dem some sweet coals, baby.

I have no idea why I thought these pics were important. See, this is what happens when you get ahead of yourself and plan a six part blog lol. I guess, though, if you didn't know what raku was it's nice to see all the steps. Yeah, that's it, I'm helping some unknown art student research their term paper. Uh huh. Yessir. Pretty amazing that there are delicate ceramic pots and stuff under that crush of fiery coals though, isn't it?

Raku Pit Fire Pt. 4

Ah, where was I? Pheonix, having overseen the activities the night before, was quite professionally ready to continue his duties. That's his beer bottle from then, I swear. Luckily zombies don't prowl in the daylight, so he got to keep his full attention on the fire.

Oops, which I didn't. That darn sunrise distracted me for a sec there. Holy moly that went up quick!

Whaoh. Look out, Mom. Oh, and there was NO lighter fluid involved. NONE, I tells ya. It was a totally boy scout legit fire. Really.

Oooooh heh heh. Fiiiiire. Fire is pretty. It is mesmirizing. (AARRGGGH I can't spell that word and I even tried googling it grrrrrrr)

Oooh. Fire is hot. Stepping back now....

Raku Pit Fire Pt. 3

Ah, is there anything better than being up at 5am to light a gigantic fire? How 'bout getting up at 4:30? Which I did. I wasn't sure if Potterman and Mom were up yet, so I went and weeded the garden for awhile, and admired the sunrise. Then I heard Potterman knocking on my door to see if I was awake heehee! So I called up from the garden that I was indeed.

Now, being very responsible adults about to light a huge fire, first we hosed down the surrounding ground and trees. We re-doused the ground as it dried from the heat of the blaze as well.

Yowza. Did I mention how beautiful the sunrise was? You know, I've been catching a lot more of 'em than I thought I would when I quit my job. I honestly doubted I would ever see one again. But sleepy as I am when witnessing them, I am very glad I get to.

But now for the real fun. LIGHTING THE FIRE WOOHOOO!

Oooh, P.S., I forgot to mention an important step in the pre lighting process: Haiku. Or a prayer, or positive words. Do not skip this step! Mom, Potterman and I each wrote something on a piece of paper and tucked them down into the wood. A kind of blessing, or maybe letters to the pottery gods. Anyhoo, soon you shall see how it worked!

Raku Pit Fire Pt. 2

Pheonix keeps an eye out for coyotes and bears and brain eating zombies, because by this time it was dark and we couldn't wait another day because the faire wasn't going to wait. So we soldiered on. It was a lot of work, standing there with the camera. Cause you know, yiu don't just GET the right shot. Okay I'm so kidding. I was so stoked I was the chronicler and basically all I had to do was watch. See, look at Potterman putting all sorts of chemicals and metals on the pots, for color. I think he even used steel wool, like the kind u wash dishes with. But then again, don't take my word for it. I was just an observer. I think there was some copper wire, too, OH yeah, and I do know that there were mothballs. I think they make blue-green.

Then it was time to bury it all, for people 2,000 years in the future to excavate. Haha.

First some more gentle sawdust to cushion the pots. Then wood. Lots of it. In fact, we ended up piling several feet of wood on. I threw a piece on, and Potterman inhaled sharply. Hey, uh, Hermitgrrl, we gotta PLACE the wood on GENTLY because we are loading pounds of trees onto POTS. OH, heh heh. Duh. My bad. LOL if I was him I woulda been mad, but he just treated it as my learning experience. He kicks ass.

By know we needed light, and I suggested grabbing some outdoor lights we have. Um, but we didn't have a long enough extension cord. So I got my car. I love using 4-wheel drive!!!!!! It's like I'm doing my car justice. Letting it do what it was made to. There's a word for it, kinda. Funktionslust- not sure how you spell it- looks german (sis? you know?) but I read about it in this book called When Elephants Weep which argues for animals actually having feelings and not being just bio machines. Most scientists call it anthropomorphism- giving animals and (lumped in the same category) inanimate objects feelings- but this book was showing how animals get sheer joy from expressing their physical capabilities to the fullest. Like a gazelle leaping across the african plains is apt to be a lot bouncier than one hanging it's head in a cold cement cell in a zoo.

My car is totally expressing funktionslust. And if you have any doubts left on where I stand on the whole debate: Her name is Edie.
Raku updates tomorrow!!

Raku Pit Fire Pt. 1

These pots are beautiful already, right? (Pheonix is here offering more of his all encompassing supervision). So what business do we have throwing them in a pit and burying them with all kinds of junk and then lighting the whole shebang on fire?

Well, I didn't know what raku was, k? I mean, I knew you "fired" ceramics, but in an oven, right? With heat, sure, but real flames? Really? Cooool. (I have a wee touch of the pyromania. Omg don't tell my dad. LOL jk) So apparently you dig a big ol' pit. And then you throw (see, another word that just doesn't seem right) some awesome pots. Then you put some kinda "sidge" or something on them to shine 'em up. I'm just the documentarian here, I didn't do research, peeps. Then you line the big ol' pit with paper. Don't ask me why, I'm reporting what happened, not why. Heh. So nice to let myself off the hook like that.

Then you pour a buncha sawdust over the paper, like 6 garbage bags full, I know, 'cause I hauled 'em. And it's gotta be from hardwood, k, not pine shavings or hamster cage lining.

Then, when you have a nice, deep, soft bed for the pots, you lay them in. Mom and Potterman demonstrate. Did I mention that I'm just the chronicler? Maybe not in those words.

There they lay, like goods entombed for the after life. You know, like the Egyptians did an stuff? And then Blogger doesn't let you put more than 5 photos on a post so you have to stop. I took over 200 photos of this process- don't worry, I only picked out the best for this tale. But there's still a lot more than 5. So I will continue on a "new" post.