Two to Raku: Karen and Susan share a thunder, lightning, hail and horsehair.

Karen French is a potter living up on Bull Mountain in Tigard.  I work in clay, too and also live in Tigard.  Karen has a great studio behind her home complete with a raku kiln.  I love the raku process, especially horsehair, but I don’t have a raku kiln in my studio.  When Karen invited me to raku with her, I jumped at the chance. 

Raku is a Japanese process originally used for producing traditional tea bowls for the Japanese Tea Ceremony.  Hand-shaped vessels were removed from the kiln while still hot and allowed to cool in the open air resulting in black bowls.  The way I learned to raku is slightly different.  The thrown or hand built pieces were bisque fired in an electric kiln.  Raku glazes were applied and the pieces were reheated in a kiln.  When they reached the right temperature, they were removed and put in a metal trash can filled with shredded paper which caused oxidation turning the uncovered clay, black.

Horsehair raku involves some of the same steps.  But, I like it more than using glazes.  It has an element of surprise and whimsy.  It all happens so fast, I have no time to think.  It forces me to be in the moment, creating.  Luckily for me, Karen likes it, too.

We set a date on our calendars.  I made a bowl and small cup.  Karen had several small vases.  They were bisque fired, packed up and ready to go.  Just then, the rain started pouring down in sheets.  Karen and I were on the phone trying to figure out what to do, when all of a sudden, it stopped.  The sun came out and raku was a go, again. 

We loaded up the raku kiln and fired it up.  Waiting for the pots to get hot enough, raindrops started to fall again.  Karen and I just dragged the kiln under her studio eves and kept going.  Then, it poured.  Thundered.  Hailed.  We saw lightning in the distance but it didn’t stop us. 

Nope.  With hot pots ready for the horsehair, we were on a mission.  

Karen lifted the raku kiln top and I pulled out a pot with tongs.  We grabbed the horsehair, placed it carefully around the hot pot and watched the miracle happen.  Horsehair twists, twirls and curls with a beautiful abandon when it hits the hot pot.  The smoky areas and black scribbly lines surrounding the pieces were just amazing. 

When I signed up for my first open studios tour, I made many surprising and wonderful connections.  One of the best, so far, was playing with hot pots, horsehair and my new clay buddy, Karen French.  In spite of the hail, all went well.  Of course, after we were done, the sun came out.