horse hair raku

The horse hair technique was first introduced by Native Americans and involves removing hot pieces and burning hair, straw, leaves, and other materials into the pot, leaving behind a carbon mark. These are works I have done over the past few years with this technique. After bisque firing the pots with a terra sigillata coat, the pots are heated to 1350 degrees Fahrenheit and removed while hot. Wearing thick gloves (I end up burning through them), I take each pot and roll on peacock feathers and horsehair. The pieces have to be evenly thrown to minimize risk of shattering due to temperature shock. Some pieces, however, do succumb to the temperature shock and are held together with an old Japanese pottery repair technique called Kintsugi. The concept is that, by using gold (I used bronze), a broken and repaired piece can be even more beautiful than one in perfect condition.