Raku Workshops
Full-day Raku Classes
Join in the magic and excitement of Raku Glaze Firings with our one-day course. Spend the day learning about this amazing pottery art form that originated in Japan in the 16th century.
With its dramatic mix of earth, fire, air and water, Raku firing is an exciting approach to pottery, with quick results. In Raku, pottery is glazed with special oxides and glazes. The pots are removed from the kiln when red hot and cooled rapidly. Colours and effects can be dramatic and beautiful, and you’re never sure what’s going to happen!
Raku Pottery Workshops run from 10am – 4pm and cost £120 per person.
What happens on Raku Day?
On a Raku Firing Day, you will have 3 different techniques available to try, described below. You will be doing 3 pots each depending on the size you make them, and you can do a different technique on each pot, or focus on 1 or 2 techniques, the choice is yours! On the day we will:
- Glaze your 3 pots with different Raku glaze techniques
- Learn about the process of Raku firing
- Do three Raku firings, including using combustible materials, rapid cooling, and cleaning of pots
At the end of the Raku workshop, you can take home your finished Raku pots!
Making your pots for Raku Day
On a Raku Firing Day, you will glaze and fire 3 pots. You can bring pots you’ve made at home as some of you have home studios now, or you can buy some of our pre-made pots. If you wish to make some pots with our guidance, just message us to book some time at the workshop.
If you have signed up for one of our 8-week ceramics courses, that is a perfect opportunity to make some pots for a Raku day. Your pots will need to be biscuit fired ready for the day. You’ll be glazing your pots on the day with our glazes.
Any questions about getting ready for Raku Day, please get in touch.
Booking a Raku Pottery Workshop
We offer Raku Pottery Workshops throughout the warmer months as it is an outdoor activity. Dates will be announced periodically so make sure you check back, follow our socials, or sign up for The Shire Workshops Newsletter to receive the latest availability.
Raku Pottery Workshops run from 10am – 4pm and cost £120 per person.
Glazed Raku
You will choose from a selection of Raku glazes to decorate your pots. You will take your pots out of the kiln whilst still very hot, put them into a bucket of sawdust, and seal. You’ll then have the option to submerge your pots in water to produce more glaze crazing. The blue and copper pot in the picture below is one of our favourite examples of a glazed Raku pot produced on one of our Raku days.
Saggar Firing
The no-glaze technique of using various materials and chemicals on the clay, wrapping the pot in a tin foil jacket or ‘saggar’, and firing to produce some beautiful and unpredictable colours and patterns. Burnished pots work very well, but unburnished will also work just fine. The black and pink pots in the picture below are beautiful examples of Saggar fired pots made at our workshop.
Naked Raku
Naked Raku can refer to different techniques, but in this case we will be heating the pots up in the kiln, and then removing them at around 700 degrees before burning items such as horse hair, feathers and sugar onto the pots to create some beautiful silhouette patterns on the white clay. The black and white pots in the bottom right picture below are some lovely examples.
Refund policy
Please read the following information before booking
If you need to cancel a booking we can give you a full refund with 30 days’ notice before the event. If less than 30 days we can provide a refund only if we can find a replacement for your place. If we can’t find a replacement to offer you a refund, we will keep your details and offer you a place on another course/day if it doesn’t fill up within 2 days of the start date. Or, we can give you the amount as a credit/voucher to be used as un-tutored workshop time.
You may also be interested in our other courses
8-week Exploring Ceramics Classes
Pal Tiya Full-Day Sculpture Workshop
