August is in the rear-view mirror, and I've got a couple of Raku sessions under my belt. Not everything worked- but I've had a few interesting pieces fly out of the kiln.

Raku sessions always function best as social alchemy- somehow, the chaos of multiple people seems to feed into better results. I was lucky this time to have some help from Maja, a Slovenian wolf geneticist who's staying with us.

One of my main goals at the moment is to generate some fountain designs that incorporate raku pieces. Since raku ware is water permeable, I can't use that strategy for the main holding vessel. The design at the top of this entry is a prototype, where the water fills a globe and cascades out of holes in the sides. A planter is incorporated into the globe.

Since I was happy with the prototype, I'm currently ready to fire up a Mark II version. I'll post it when finished... hopefully it won't evoke Deep Space Nine too explicitly!

Beyond fountains (and a whole raft of functional ware) my main raku focus has been the ever-engaging planter. I'll just let the images ramble across the screen from here on out.

OK- I lied. I need to vent about this glaze a bit. I've already talked about the glaze on the body of this piece (Egyptian Blue Raku) and how much I like it when the perfect set of conditions converge. Sandy textures with brilliant blues, reds, oranges- the whole gamut.

However, when the pressure drops a micro-pascal, or when a racoon farts, or when someone sneezes, and the conditions aren't ideal, you either get muddy greens or flat copper penny (which a lot of people like, but which does not fit with the gestalt I'm shooting for).

Anyhow, after a couple of copper penny planters, I'm considering dropping this glaze from my palate.

(Couple more examples below. I wish the background had worked... because I love the color balance on the carvings)