Raku and Horse Hair Process

Raku and horse hair fired pots are purely decorative pottery.  They are not fired to a hot enough temperature to be vitrified or non porus.  For Raku fired pots I paint on a glaze and fire in a Raku kiln to about 1600 to 1800 degrees.  Once the pot reaches temperature I pull it out of the kiln with tongs and put it into a galvenized trash can that has combustible material in it.  The heat from the pot starts a fire with the combustible material.  I let it burn for about 30 seconds and then put a lid on the can to starve it of oxygen.  This reduction causes chemical reactions in the glazes which make them somewhat metalic.  For the horse hair process I take the piece out of the kiln and lay strands of horse hair on the pot.  The carbon from the burning horse hair is absorbed into the pot leaving squiggly lines where the horse hair burned on the pot.