Jay Jasper's Blog, page 93
March 20, 2021
Lying In A Pit And Looking At The Sky
It was considered a great milestone in the development of civilization – in part because people were tired of drinking their wine out of wooden buckets.
With such an interesting story behind these pieces, and their ethereal smokey qualities with small splashes of textures and depth, pit-fired pottery makes a welcome gift for someone who likes unique and eclectic pieces.
I find looking at them is a relaxing experience akin to laying on my back and looking at shapes in the clouds.
Check out our selection of pit fired pieces here and see how it is made here.
Prices include free shipping to the United States and Canada!
$98
Shipping Included In US and Canada
$125
Shipping Included In US and Canada
$98
Shipping Included In US and Canada
What do you think of pit-Fired Pottery?
Don’t want to miss out on seeing all the available deals during this sale? Sign up for our Newsletter today. We will be sending out a summary of all of our sale items Sunday night, and you will have a chance to win some free pottery once we hit 500 subscribers, which I am hoping will be before the holidays!
The (Not So) Secret Steps Involved In Making Raku Pottery!
A few people have asked me about the raku process that is used to fire my pottery and vases and I have decided to show you and write about how I create raku pottery.
The process starts with creating a piece on the wheel (or by hand-building). I love the process of making things on the wheel and find there is a certain zen feeling that washes over me.
Throwing pottery on the wheel is a tonic for the soul!After a pot is thrown or handbuilt, it must dry to prevent explosions in the kiln when it is bisque fired. After the piece has had time to dry it is bisque fired. This makes for more stable handling of the piece when glazing and makes it easier for the piece to withstand the rigors of raku.
Once the bisque firing is done, the magic of raku begins! Pottery pieces are cleaned and glazed and prepared for their final firing and the flames of raku.
The effects of raku are magical!
One of the glazes being prepared.
Glazed raku pottery vase prior to firing.The components of the glaze are one of the main variables that help determine the effects you get from a raku firing! Glaze can be brushed on a pottery piece, or a piece can be dipped into glaze.
Once the glaze has completely dried, it is ready to go in the kiln. We use an electric kiln for our raku firings. There are specialized raku kilns you can buy, but they cost a small fortune!
Our ancient electric pottery kiln from the 70’s!
Kiln is loaded with glazed pieces!
Raku allows for effects you just can’t get with conventional pottery firing techniques.Once the kiln is loaded, it is heated to the determined temperature for the raku firing. This is another variable that helps determine the effect of the glaze.
Reduction bins are prepared with organic material which also has an impact on the finish of the raku pottery.
Once the kiln has reached temperature, the real adventure begins! Safety googles and gloves are put on, and the raku tongs are at the ready.
If you are attempting this at home, please note this is not a comprehensive guide, and there are real safety issues to be considered, depending on your set up.
This may be a video on how not to do raku! Transferring raku pottery from the kiln into the reduction bins filled with organic material.As you can see from the video, red hot pots are transferred from the kiln into the reduction material with metal tongs. Note that prior to this, the kiln is shut off (no shocking experiences for me of the tongs touching any of the metal coils within the kiln!)
I sometimes add additional reduction material. Once all pots are placed in the reduction bin, a lid is added. We also use upside-down pots. The goal is to create a ‘reduction’ environment where there is no oxygen. This happens if you have sealed your bin well, as the organic material burns off the oxygen in the container.
From the fire to a bath.
Bath time at the pottery!
‘Make it Work’ – raku pottery vaseOnce the raku pottery is removed from the reduction bin, it can still be quite hot. It is placed in water to help cool the piece. During the reduction process pottery pieces often get covered in soot and must be scrubbed. Pieces are also placed back in the kiln after being cleaned to help set the colours.
This is how we make our raku pottery! Do you think the raku effects are worth the extra effort? Which is your favourite effect below? You can see more raku effects by clicking here.
Raku vase – ‘Draught of Piece”
Raku pot – Cybele 65
Raku vase – Homer’s OdysseySee more/purchase raku vases (and more!) here
March 19, 2021
🎉 A Pottery Party! 🎉
You can find this video on from the front page of our website at rakupottery.ca as well as on our Youtube channel.
Looking forward to hearing what you think about it!
March 18, 2021
Turtle . . . Mug . . . What’s next???? Win Even More!
And not only can you win, but you can help determine how many things go in the prize basket! To participate, all you need to do is sign up for our newsletter here:
As our newsletter audience grows, so will the number of pieces of pottery I add to the basket!
One lucky winner will receive what I hope to be a grand haul of pottery!We Have added our next item!
If you can’t wait, there is a similar mug for sale hereThis mug is joining the little turtle!
The pot gets sweeter and sweeter it could be yours!Sign up for our newsletter today for your chance, and you could win this gift basket, with which your help will be full of great items!
Don’t worry if you’ve already signed up – you are already entered! Please feel free to follow us on our social media (top right of page) and share the contest so we can add even more pieces of pottery to the gift basket.
To Hell & Back
‘Draupnir‘ tells the tale of dwarven headhunters, a father’s love, the ultimate wealth multiplier, and a journey to hell and back. It’s about a gift, made in response to a wager, that almost cost a trickster his head.
Forged in fire, Draupnir was one of three gifts which also included the Mjollnir and the Gullinbursti. They were created by dwarves, Brokkr and Sindri, as part of a wager with Loki. Loki made a bet that they could not make better gifts than the Sons of Ivaldi.
Loki must have lost his head, betting against the brothers. He was very wrong, and this was no small wager.
The dwarven brothers may have won the contest because of the Mjollnir (Thor’s Hammer), but the Draupnir was literally worth it’s weight in gold – actually eight times it’s weight in gold!
It was time for Loki to pay up and he had wagered his head. But as usual Loki had a trick up his sleeve. He argued that in order for the brothers to take his head they would need to injure his neck and that wasn’t part of the bargain.
The dwarves discussed, and settled for sewing his lips together with wire.
Perhaps just to shut him up.
‘Draupnir’, old Norse for The Dripper, was no slouch of a gift. It was a golden arm ring with a special ability: every nine days it would drip out eight new arm rings of the same weight and quality of gold!
Move over Michael Bloomberg, that’s quite a return on investment!
This arm ring would become a prized possession of Odin’s, but in the ultimate act of a father’s love Odin placed it on the funeral pyre of his son Baldr.
But the rings story does not end here.
In the land of death, Baldr would give the ring to the messenger god Hermodr, who would ultimately return it to Odin.
A circular journey to Hell and back rings true for ‘Draupnir‘ – but if you buy this vase, please don’t return it to me.
It’ll be yours. I insist.
Draupnir $74 If you liked this story, you can find many others like it in our first book “A Potter’s Dream: Myths & Legends”.
March 17, 2021
Snake Oil Salesmen Everywhere Hate him!
It’s also not easy being a legendary dark ages saint. Today’s vase ‘Scattering Snakes‘ tells the tale of St. Patrick and much slithering, or so the story goes!
$64Shipping Included in Canada and US
It was not easy for St. Patrick, being a missionary on the Emerald Isle.
He had been beaten, imprisoned and even captured by pirates before becoming a much loved religious patriarch of folklore.
His followers and public relations machine had to work over time to carefully craft his image. It’s no wonder that they would choose to start the story that St. Patrick banished all the snakes from Ireland, as the snake was thought to represent the devil himself, ready to tempt people into ungodly acts – like dying beer green!
Unfortunately for St. Patrick and his followers, it is now known there haven’t been snakes in Ireland since the last Ice Age. I guess those who made up this tale learned to sell snake oil without any snakes.
Nice story though!In The Green
Green vases are 10% off and include shipping within the US and Canada!
So be sure to check out our other items like mugs,
raku jewelry, raku owls and our pit fired pieces.
You can see much more of what we make here.
Sale Price – $124 – 10% = $112Shipping Included in Canada and US
Sale Price – $55 – 10% = $50Shipping Included in Canada and US
$35
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Sale Price – $92 – 10% = $83Shipping Included in Canada and US
Sale Price – $140 – 10% = $126Shipping Included in Canada and US
Sale Price – $68 – 10% = $61Shipping Included in Canada and US
Sale Price – $94 – 10% = $85Shipping Included in Canada and US
Sale Price – $80 – 10% = $72Shipping Included in Canada and US
$25Shipping Included in Canada and US
Sale Price – $98 – 10% = $89Shipping Included in Canada and US
$28
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Sale Price – $68 – 10% = $61Shipping Included in Canada and US
All Green vases are on sale now but The sale Ends tonight!
Please get in touch by email here with any questions
Sweet Seanáthair Welcomes Triplets With World’s Largest Swimming Pool!
This large vase, called ‘The Eye of Balor’, tells the tale of an Irish giant, a prophecy, his captive daughter, some serious control issues, a late night rendezvous and a whole lot of famillicide!
The Eye of Balor – $288 Shipping Included in US and Canada
According to Irish legend . . .
A race of giants, the Fomorians, were said to be among the early settlers of Ireland. They even had their own king, Balor. Balor was no ordinary giant king, as he was also the god of death.
Balor would have been an unwelcome patient at an optometrist’s office. He only had one eye. Imagine the frustration of trying to fit a pair of glasses for him. This would be the least of the eye doctor’s problems though, as whoever was caught in his gaze would die instantly.
The Eye of Balor is included in our first book of pottery and mythologyLearn more hereFortunately, giants weren’t big on seeing eye doctors.
And Balor kept his single eye closed until this terrible power was needed. Maybe he had a cool eye patch?
According to the prophecy, Balor would be killed by his own grandson. What was a giant cyclops to do? Imprison his own daughter in a crystal tower of course! That way she can never have any babies and the prophecy would be thwarted.
A crystal tower apparently does not make a great prison. Cian, a minor god was able to find a way into the tower and Balor’s daughter found her self with child not long after. Imagine getting pregnant with triplets from your first sexual experience? That is what happened to Balor’s daughter, Ethlinn.
It seems she had terrible luck.
Balor heard about the birth of his three grandsons – But rather than passing out cigars he threw them into the sea.One boy Lugh was able to escape his watery grave by finding refuge with Manannan Mac Lir, the god of the sea. The prophecy finally played when Lugh led the Tuatha De Danann (a race of Irish gods) into a battle where Balor would meet his fate.
Death by removal of his one eye.
You can learn more about our work here at the studio and what we are all about in just one minute. Check out our introductory video and subscribe to our youtube channel! And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter here. Once we hit 500 subscribers, we will be doing another giveaway for some of our beautiful pottery!
March 16, 2021
Born To Be Wise
-A. A. Milne (Author of Winnie-the-Pooh)
The Raku Owl page has been updated with new pictures, and new owls!
Turquoise Owl –
$75
Shipping Included In US and Canada
Transitions
-Kristin ArmstrongOne of the More curious times in the creation of raku pottery
Is the change that occurs during a glaze firing. Beforehand, we set up the firing scenario to be in the best possible situation to reach a certain result, but once the kiln and reduction containers are closed
it is up to the fates.
