Naked Raku Pottery Vase Black and White

Black and white hand thrown naked raku bottle vase with black carbonised design. 

Raku is a type of low-firing pottery that was inspired by the traditional Japanese raku. Western style raku involves taking the pot out of the kiln whilst red hot and placing in a metal container full of a combustible material such as sawdust. The thermal shock of being exposed to the cold air causes the glaze to crackle and carbon from the burning sawdust is pulled into the cracks.

Made using the ‘naked raku’ process, so called because they do not have any glaze so the clay is naked. While the pot is still slightly damp it is burnished to a high shine and then bisque fired. When cool it is coated with a layer of slip (liquid clay) and then a layer of glaze and then re-fired. It is taken out of the kiln red hot and allowed to cool slightly which causes the glaze and slip layer to crackle so that when it is placed in the sawdust carbon is pulled in through the cracks and stains the clay black, the rest of the pot remains white. When cool the eggshell layer (slip and glaze) is chipped off to reveal the crackle pattern underneath.