Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Before the Firing

In my prior post I gave you a peek inside how I raku fire my beads.  Today, I'd like to show you some of the work that goes into actually making the beads.  (Please excuse the weird lighting, I work in a basement.)

All my beads start from a lump of wet clay.  I use an assortment of techniques to make them; slabs, molds, hand-forming, etc...  Once I've made a bead I let it dry for a few days.  This unfired clay is known as greenware.

When I have a large pile of greenware ready, I sit down and sponge them so the edges will be nice and smooth.
These are all pieces that have been sponged and organized.
When all the sponged pieces are dry, I load them into my little kiln.  Since they aren't glazed they can be stacked on top of one another.  This first firing is the bisque firing.
While this firing only takes a couple of hours the kiln is so hot that I don't unload it until the next day.  I then remove all the pieces and organize them on trays (can you tell I like being organized?  hehe!).
If I see a good raku-firing day coming, that's when I start glazing my beads.  I lay paper towels down on my worktable, fill some cups with distilled water, put on my gloves and start a glazing marathon.  Once all the beads are glazed they are put on my special racks and a ready to be raku fired!

And that's how my raku beads are born!

12 comments :

  1. When I was in high school my favorite part of art class was working with clay. I loved the smell of the clay, the process of kneeding the , forming, and watching it become the final glazed piece. Thanks for taking us through your process.

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  2. Always love seeing the process, thanks for sharing DP.

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  3. Thanks for sharing Diana. I have a question - what constitutes a "good raku firing day"? Do weather conditions need to be particular?

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    1. To me a good raku firing day is one that isn't too hot and it's not raining. I don't like to fire when it's a gazillion degrees out (although I have to while prepping for Bead Fest) and I won't do another firing in the winter..waaaaaay too cold out!

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  4. I'm with Kristi - I love to see the "behind the scenes" process, too!

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  5. Thanks for showing this -very interesting! I hope you show the glazing process.

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    1. Not much to show with the glazing. For the most part I just paint them on with various size paintbrushes. Once in awhile I will dip a piece into the glaze. I wish it was more interesting than that. :-)

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  6. Wow! What a production! I am trying to shift my own output from one-at-a-time to something with higher output. It's very inspiring to see what you're doing.

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  7. I am amazed at your production and love seeing how the magic happens. Thanks for sharing!

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  8. WOW! Thanks for the peek into your creative process. I knew it entailed a lot of work but you also have a lot of waiting.

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  9. Hi Diana, I'm so glad I found your blog and your lovely jewelry. I just love those metallic colours you get. I'm about to do my first raku firing at a workshop. Are your beads made from porcelain clay?

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