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| AMOCA Founder, David Armstrong introduces the Raku Extravaganza Workshop |
Audience of 200+ gathers on a beautiful
and sunny November day |
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| Jim Romberg, curator of Raku: Origins,Impact, and Contemporary Expressions |
Close up of Romberg's brushes
made of hair from various animals |
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| Romberg uses his brushes, iron oxide wash, and butcher paper to illustrate his calligraphic approach to decorating |
Romberg initiates surface treatment of a bisqued plate to which he has added a section of poured-on glaze |
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| Romberg uses tape and cut paper shapes to mask areas as he sprays the pot's surface with a mouth-blown sprayer |
Steven Branfman throws a tall cylinder and
textures the outside with a putty knife |
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| Using a curved rib, Branfman expands the shape from the inside, forcing the textured. area to stretch |
Branfman continues to shape his original
cylinder into a bulbous bottle |
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| Branfman bottle |
Branfman rolls a newly-thrown clay cylinder in crushed glass |
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Fully rounded form, imbedded with colored
glass that will melt in the firing |
Patrick Crabb pushes from the inside of his slab-built cylinder to swell the surface at regularly-spaced intervals |
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| Patrick Crabb carries finished bottle form |
Crabb with completed tea pot |
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| Crabb begins a slab-built plate |
Slab-built plate removed from hump mold |
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Laguna Clay sponsors the workshop,
supplying clay, glazes, and raku kiln |
Paul Soldner begins decoration of a tea bowl |
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| Soldner applies iron oxide to his bowl |
Soldner is known as the "Father of American Raku" |
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| Panel discussion: Jim Romberg, Steven Branfman, Patrick Crabb, collectors David and Martha Bills, and Professor Morgan Pitelka, author of Handmade Culture: Raku potters, Patrons and Tea Practitioners in
Japan |
Les Haworth lights the loaded kiln
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| The kiln is loaded with the second firing |
The kiln cage is lowered over the pots |
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| The cage is raised to withdraw a ready piece with tongs |
An accident occurs and the kiln shelf falls |
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An unbelievable rescue. Branfman grabs
the red hot pot with his gloves |
As part of the cooling down process
Hayworth sprays the pot with water |
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| The pot is placed in a lidded metal can filled with leaves or shredded newspaper to accomplish a post firing reduction. The smoke permeates any unglazed areas and turns them black |
Flames leap from the metal can when a hot pot is placed inside |
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Good shot of our videographer,
Rene Bergan and her sound person |
Even with the smoke, the crowd is enthralled, staying till 5 pm |
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| Crabb breaks his bisqued pot in order to give each segment separate glaze treatments. The finished pieces are then glued back together like a puzzle |
Branfman trims his bottle in a newly-thrown “chuck,” made on the spot to accommodate the exact shape of the piece |
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| Onlookers watch as Paul Soldner begins to pull his smoked pieces from the metal cans |
The remnants |
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| Soldner uses tongs to lift pieces from the ashes |
Some finished work |
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