Raku Pottery Course 10.00 - 17.00 Sunday 20th and 27th September

Come to Bristol Pottery Workshops for a two-day Raku pottery course! A fun, hands-on experience exploring the exciting and unpredictable art of Raku firing. This course combines throwing on the wheel, hand building, sculpture and dramatic outdoor firing techniques to create beautifully unique ceramic pieces. Raku is an ancient Japanese pottery technique with a rich and fascinating history, so throughout the course we will look at historical techniques and inspiring examples to enhance your making experience. The first day will focus on making your pieces. You will have space for creative freedom or a range of guided project options, including press moulds for making decorative geckos. These are a relaxed and enjoyable way to begin creating for Raku, while still allowing plenty of room for creativity. On the second day, we move on to glazing and firing. Raku glazing uses highly metallic and colour-rich glazes. After decorating and glazing your work, we will fire the pieces outdoors in a gas kiln. Once the pottery reaches around 1000°C, the glowing red-hot pieces are carefully removed from the kiln whilst still molten and plunged into sawdust. The rapid temperature change causes the glaze to create spectacular crackled, smoky and metallic effects - resulting in the distinctive magic of Raku pottery. Expect to make and fire 5 or more beautiful pieces, which you will be able to take home on the same day as firing.