Smelling Raku

Smelling+Raku

by Callie Mueller and Austin Desroche, staff writers

The smell of campfire wafted up through the building this morning, but we’re not roasting marshmallows this time. That smoky smell is coming from Eric Solbergs Raku Kilns. Solberg is here from Seattle Pottery Supply to fire some of the projects from the advanced ceramics class. This is the first of two trips Solberg will be making to GP this year. He has been coming to help Mrs. Green for the past 8 years, and his favorite piece so far was a project made by Tucker Cooper 4 years ago. “It was a tall white cylinder with faces around it. The mustache and goatees on the faces kept the patina, which made them turn black but the faces stayed white,” Solberg said.

The students in the advanced class work on clay self portraits which incorporate a plaster mold of their face as well as sculpted additions about family, fun and their future. They spend three to four weeks working on the sculpture and then fire it once to get the moisture out of the clay. This is called a bisque-firing and is a slow process that takes about 48 hours.

The kilns work on a  pulley system that are lifted with the thermostat reaches 1850 degrees. “All the magic happens in the can, after the kiln” Solberg said.

Raku is different from a regular pottery because it gets fired twice. The piece goes into the kiln which is at least 1850 degrees and bakes for about 25 minutes if it’s watched carefully. After the kiln, it goes into the can. “The way it all turns out depends on how quick you get the extra paper into the can and the lid on and shut,” Solberg said.

Solberg is a master of raku since he has been doing it for over 20 years. He fires all shapes and sizes of pottery, but “the hardest are the round ones,” he said.