Raku is a really special process – you never quite know what the results will be. All the items here started on the wheel and then were altered once leather hard. While there are elements of hand building, I always like to start with something thrown on the wheel.
I first started doing raku with Mary Chappelhow of Interlude Ceramics, as part of her evening classes. In 2024, I bought my own kiln, so I can can create fire, smoke and soot whenever I like (as long as it’s a westerly wind so I don’t smoke out the neighbours!)
The pear obsession
Do I have a reason for my pear obsession? Erm, if I do, I don’t know what it is. I just love making them! Single big pears as a statement, little pears which are cute, just slightly-larger-than-life pears (the preferred size of my mum) in a group. Sometimes I make apples, but mainly pears.
Work inspired by the Isle of Mull, Scotland
My favourite holiday destination is the Isle of Mull, partically the north of the island. I love the black basalt rocks, the beautiful white beaches and all the fabulous wildlife. I’ve been working on my urchins for a long time – my first ever raku pieces were semi-closed, curved forms, which soon became urchins. I kept making them year after year, officially telling myself that one day I’d give one to my friend (who is a marine biologist). But I just kept keeping them. Now I’ve got my own kiln, I’m finally at the point where I might let her have one!
Baubles
This is another ‘Helen thing’. I must confess the idea of making a ceramic bauble was initially inspired by a potter on Instagram called Matt Horne who makes slip cast baubles with crystalline glazes. Mine are nothing like his, but I love the idea of ceramic baubles instead of traditional glass, and I thought that the raku process and the potential of shiny coppery goodness might be just the thing.
I throw my baubles, making them upside down to begin with, and then turn them on the wheel to make the top where the thread goes through. Again, these are something I struggle to part with, so I am amassing a collection. The local sewing shop is now very familar with my rocking up with a collection of baubles in my pocket so I can get just the right thread for each one!
The Raku Method
I make raku items following ‘western style’ raku techniques. After an initial bisque firing in the electric kiln, pieces are glazed, dried and then fired outdoors in a gas kiln until the glazes have melted. At this point, the kiln is opened and the hot pieces are removed with tongs and placed in containers full of combustible materials like sawdust which immediately set alight. The burning pots are then covered, and left for a period of time, before being unearthed from the sawdust and dropped into water. The combination of the smoke, which blackens any unglazed parts of the pot, the reduction effect because there is a very limited oxygen supply in the containers and the sudden heat shock of removal from the kiln which causes the glaze to crackle, gives the distinctive raku effect.
These photos show me doing some raku with a friend at Brougham Hall. My next job is to put up some photos of ‘Oliver the Oil Drum’ in action!
