Raku Festival

Today we attended the Raku Festival in downtown Chandler. I’d been to a raku workshop about 9 or 10 years ago and was fascinated by the colors and textures that could be achieved with this firing technique, so I was excited to get to see some more raku pottery today. The event didn’t seem too well attended, which was a shame because the pieces for sale were gorgeous and there were also some interesting raku demonstrations as well as a variety of activities for children. I learned about horsehair raku, which involves placing strands of horsehair on a piece that has just been removed from the kiln. The horsehair burns on contact with the extremely hot piece of pottery, and leaves carbon lines behind. The resulting patterns left on the ceramic are beautiful. I also saw pieces of raku pottery that were more along the lines of what I’d seen before, some with rich metallic colors, and others with a light colored background covered in a network of darker cracks in the glaze.

While all the pieces created by the various potters had their own beauty, I finally settled (with Tim’s help) on a large horsehair raku candleholder, using some of the money my mother gave me for my birthday. It’s something that she would have enjoyed getting for me since we took years of pottery lessons together, and in fact we went to that raku workshop together all those years ago. I can’t wait for her to see it when she comes to visit us this winter!