With the long weekend ahead of me I decided to continue the “summer of raku” with what is by far my favorite type of raku…Naked Raku.
I don’t really know much about naked raku, in fact I hadn’t even heard of it until about a month ago when I was watching a youtube video of a workshop Charlie Riggs gave. He demonstrated naked raku and I was mesmorized! So much possibility with this technique and honeslty it’s addicting!
Armed with only this video as a refernce (there isn’t much of anything out there on the web) I dove in! And while my finished pots aren’t quite right, I learned a lot and I can’t wait to try again really soon. I feel like the results showed enough promise to invest some time perfecting the techniqe, and the way the smoke paints the pots fascinates me and will definetly keep my interest for months to come.
I also left out a step that honestly I would never skip again, coating the greenware with terra-sig. The fed-ex delivery guy didn’t get my materials here in time to make it, and I just couldn’t wait 
So you would normally coat your greenware with terra-sig, fire to the cone most appropriate for the clay body you are using. (I fired to cone 4) and then coat your pot in a special slip sludge. This coating covers the pot and while in the kiln will dry and crack. These cracks are where the smoke from the reduction will creep in and paint your pot!
The recipe I used was from Riggs workshop.
- 5 parts lincoln fire clay
- 3 parts EPK (edgar plastic kaolin)
- 2 parts alumina hydrate
Be sure to do PARTS not by weight.
Mix that all up in a bucket and add water till the mixture is the consistency of pancake batter. (It’s pretty thick)
Then you are ready to fire your pots.
I fired very slow to 500 degrees and then let it go up to 1200 more quickly. I think this is where I had some of my problems. On every single pot some of the slip fell off in the kiln. I think Riggs said something about if it gets to hot too fast then the slip would blow right off. I’ll experiment with the timing next time and see if it makes a difference.
Then you put in a reduction pot with newspaper and work to get a hard and fast reduction. I also struggled a bit here. The un-slipped parts didn’t get as black as I wanted and so I added more newspaper on the next firing and the “white” parts turned more gray, so more work to do here too.
When the come out you knock off the slip and reveal *~*MAGIC*~* This is my favorite part by the way
How fun is that?!?!
Here are the finished pots. I have lots of work to do but lots of things went right and it was a blast!
to get the really black parts of the pot, like around the neck of the pot, you can also use a black underglaze where you want it really black. The rest of the time, in naked raku it is a hit or miss type of thing. Never the same way twice.
Wow amazing, I’ve never done Raku myself but I do love the marbling it leaves on pots looks fantastic!
I am a raku addict but have never heard of this naked Raku, and I am now itching to find out more and have a go myself. I got a bit confused with the temperatures you mentioned but I am guessing you are talking farenheight not celeius? I am also not sure what you meant by parts not weight? Your results were outstanding. Love the Japanese safety boots by the way!
I am an artist in Ireland and working on Naked raku for the first time myself and its addictive I am finally getting results the slip was too thick I think to start off with its been So much trial and error for the last few weeks I have an exhibition in the well know West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbreen at the end of the month so its good to have resukts by Now….
Nice to meet you Martha! Naked raku IS addictive and I’m looking forward to perfecting my own technique. Good luck with your exhibition and thanks for stopping by
I’ve been doing naked raku for a few years now and I noticed one thing in your post that I wanted to point out: you said that you bisque your pieces to cone 4. I’m partially guessing that you just made a typo and really meant cone 04, but it made me wonder if you knew that the amount of smoke a piece absorbs is directly related to the temperature it is biqsue fired to. Cone 04 is a little high to be firing your bisque to if you plan on using any smoke technique. I have found that firing to anywhere between cone 010 to 08 gives the pieces enough strength while remaining porous enough to get rich, dark blacks. You shouldn’t ever have to waste your time underglazing areas black if you are using terra sig And firing to the lower bisque.
Hope that helps!
I’m so glad you said something Ryan because I didn’t know the correlation between bisque and the amount of smoke the piece will absorb. It wasn’t a typo I really did fire to cone 4 not 04. I’ll give the next round a try at the lower range and see what happens! Thank so much for stopping by and for your comment
Wow! These are gorgeous! I love raku. Never tried naked raku, though. Maybe when i get my own kiln!
Hi..great pots and great response..I am going to try this soon..I tried making a terra sig once going by the book we all know and love..but didn’t have good results..do you have recipe for that? any help would be great. I’m rakuing in the snow these days, but manage..snow doesn’t stop our addiction to the art..right