Raku

 

Birthed by fire, smoke, and the chaos theory.

 

There is an official definition of Raku that begins with Japanese history. But here's mine.
 

Raku is an outdoor firing process that usually consists of lots of fire, lots of smoke, and a magical, mysterious, trash can deprived of oxygen, in the quest for creating metallic finishes and cool crackles on the pots that somehow survive the temperature shock. 

 

We Raku potters like to theorize that each of the variables that act upon the color and texture is under our control. Until it's not.

That's where the chaos theory enters. And that's when it gets fun. Stuff just happens.

 

This pot has a copper glaze with flashes of bronze, gold, silver, and purple. The neck is raw, smoked clay, left unglazed.