Roberta Griffith

Princeville, Hawaii, USA

Title: Naked Raku Wedge Container

Year of Creation: 2012

Glaze: Low fire slip and raku glaze

Clay Body: B-Mix with grog fired to cone 10

Dimensions: Height 7.75 inches, Width 4.25 inches

Artist's Statement: I enjoy handbuilding objects using slabs as well as making pinch pots. These shapes work as well with the naked raku process as the wheel thrown vessels. This vessel was bisque fired at C/06. Then, it was decorated with taped stripes, and poured on the outside with a thin layer of low fire slip. After the slip dried, it was poured with a low fire raku glaze over the slip. The tape was removed, and it was fired in a fast fire for about half an hour, just below the maturing temperature of the glaze. It was removed from the raku kiln with tongs, and smoked for 10 minutes. As the piece cools, the slip and glaze fall away from the surface, leaving the surface with black lines where it was taped, and white where glaze and slip resisted the reduction. It has a soft appearance. I like the soft appearance of the unglazed surface, with its contrasting black, from the reduction, and the white where slip and glaze coating resisted the reduction.