Today is was necessary to be at the studio at 9am for it was going to be a big day. I met Moto and Takao at the studio and we then drove to Yamashina. We had to do Kuroi (Black) Raku, and the kiln was located there. It took me a while to figure out that the guy who lived there was their uncle (Moto and Takaos dads brother, does that make sense?). It was cool, yet a slow tedious process. Basically all the pots we had, had been through a bisque firing and were painted this black grey brown color. Now, all these pots needed to be fired. This is how it went. The kiln was at 1200 degrees celsius. So hot, you could feel it was burning in there. We then would put 3 pots into the kiln and would leave the lid off for 1-2 minutes. Then we closed it until a total 4-6 minutes passed by. Then the kiln was opened, the items were taken out, and the next items went in. The reason why the kiln is opened for a little bit it because of oxygen levels. For this kiln and process oxygen levels need to be low, but still present. Therefore we let oxygen into it, so that the temperature rises. Then we close it so the levels decrease.
I sat about 6 feet from the kiln and when the lid was open it was hot. I could feel it against my skin, it was crazy. Today is a really hot and humid day too, and due to safety reasons it was required to wear pants, long sleeves, and closed shoes. (Itd burn your skin) But it added extra heat. When the lid was closed it really wasnt that bad but the amount of heat is immense. The pots glow a deep red orange color after only being in the kiln for 5 minutes.
I took some pictures of the store for you guys to see what the little shop looks like.
So we had lunch in Yamashima and then continues the process. I was the time keeper :) I had a stopwatch and just told them when to close the lid and take things out. They offered to let me try it but I was a little to scared of the heat.
In one of the pictures of a cup taken out of the kiln you can see a black dark spot on it. Every pot done this way has one. It happens because of the tongs and there is no way to avoid it because the glaze and everything is just so hot.
