Inaugural Raku

We did the inaugural firing of our garbage can kiln on Saturday, and fired some clay pieces raku-style. It all worked amazingly well. 

Well, some of the clay pieces weren't hot enough to ignite the sawdust because it took too long to put each individual piece in the can, so they didn't turn all black, but as far as the kiln goes and the raising of the temperature with the weed-burner, it worked perfectly.

Only one piece cracked, and sure, looking over the schedule it's clear we went way too quickly from 400° to 800°, but we kept it pretty slow and steady from start to the crucial 400 mark anyway. And besides, it's always interesting if something goes wrong - otherwise it's hard to learn what you're doing right.

Start - 12:10pm

100° C - 1:20

200° C - 2:10

300° C - 2:45

400° C - 3:15

800° C - 4:15

900° C - 4:30

915° C - 5:15

I had a few pieces that I had prepared with different iron oxide formulations, and I also fired a pot that I burnished from bone-dry (never done that before). It turned out very well, with a nice sheen. Now I see how it can work, so am eager to try again. And now I know how to prepare a better homemade iron oxide too - the rust from the piece of steel wool left in water worked best, but likely because it was the most evenly controlled and therefore most evenly mixed.