Raku Koalas

One of the most fun things I did at the International Ceramic Research Center was our Raku firing. For anyone who has not seen this before - it is a process of heating up your sculptures or pots until they are red-hot, taking them from the kiln and placing them in combustible material - usually in a lidded container for special smoking effects.

Anders Gydum (DK artist) and I embarked upon our raku late in the evening - after Anders had worked most of the day to re-structure the kiln to fit the height of my pieces (thanks again!!!).

Above is one of my pieces being lifted out prior to being placed in saw dust. Dropping them into water for accelerated cooling is also good fun!

Although we applied some raku glazes, the pieces we created were suitable for the complete unpredictability of raku.

Here is my raku vase 'Brisbane River Lady' - the glazes are even more stunning in real life!

My series of tiny raku sushi plates (below) - formed using timber.
Might be good for small chocolates or cakes as well!

Ander's series of Koalas came out just beautifully. These two wheel thrown pieces were my favourite.

And for something totally different...

A sculpture I loved in Copenhagen - perfectly positioned on the water.
I can relate to the expressions in this work.
It is called 'Siddende unge mennesker' - meaning 'Seated young people' - by Johannes Hansen