We are excited to announce our 2024 SPRING Raku Weekend Retreat Upstate, in Sullivan County. We promise you a very intense and fun experience.
You can fire up to 8 of your own bisque ware, 10″ x 6″ x 6″ max (you can bring a few more if your pieces are smaller). Over 20 glazes will be at your disposal to experiment with. Results will vary from turquoise to intense red/bronze to beautiful white crackle as well as naked raku. All the white and tan clay bodies we use in the studio (stoneware, porcelain, buff groggy clay) are compatible with this firing technique. To another exciting, creative, fulfilling and exhausting weekend!
FEES AND WEEKEND ORGANIZATION:
- Raku firing workshop: $435
- Weekend Sleeping and eating accommodation in the houses, in Jeffersonville, NY: $125/person
- Weekend Camping on the ground in Jeffersonville, NY and eating accommodation: $70/person
- Commuter fee: Food and miscellaneous participation for people not sleeping on the ground or in the houses: $45/person
- Sleeping: Lois will let you know where she has arranged for you to sleep.
- You can of course choose to sleep somewhere else in the area and in that case just pay the $45 Commuter fee.
Weekend and food organization:- Arrive Friday in the late morning/early afternoon. Glaze your pieces.
- Friday dinner with pizza and salads from Brios
- Saturday in the morning: Oatmeal, granola, fruits, tea and coffee
- Raku glazing and firing all day, starting early :)!!!.
- Saturday lunch and dinner – Potluck bring a dish to share. There are a lot of serving bowls at the house. Let us know what you are bringing or ask if you’re not sure what to bring.
- Bonfire after dinner (BYOB)
- Sunday same breakfast
- Raku firing and House clean up and leisurely exodus
- Lunch eat leftovers
- Any help, if available, packing out trash would be highly appreciated.
What to bring besides Pot luck:- Layered Cotton Fabric Clothing, No Synthetic Clothing Allowed
- Closed toe shoes
- A respirator with Color Code Olive/Magenta P100 Defender respirator cartridges from North or comparable is recommended
- Ceramic Tools, Paint Brushes, scrubby pad
- Drinking vessel
- Extra bedding and sleeping bags
Transportation:- You are responsible for getting to the workshop. A few weeks before, we will share a google sheet among the participants so carpooling can be arranged.
Address:47 Hust Rd
Jeffersonville, NY 12748
Raku firing process:
‘Raku’ firing originated in Japan in the roots of the tea ceremony, but now in its myriad of forms and techniques produces pottery vastly different from the crude (some say ugly) simplicity of the original tea bowls marked with the symbol ‘raku’- meaning ‘pleasure, enjoyment, at ease’. Raku as it has now become popularly known is a technique where a pot is fired rapidly up to about 1000 C and is removed from the kiln when glowing hot. A more recent development is the placing of the glowing pot in a container with combustible materials, creating particular colors, textures, and metallic surfaces caused by the interaction of the glaze and clay with the reducing (lack of oxygen) atmosphere in the reduction bin. When the pot is taken from the kiln glowing red hot, the glazes are still soft and molten. If you drop them in the sawdust, paper or leaves straight away, the pot will bear the texture of the material in which it is placed. As the reducing materials burn, the metallic oxides in the glaze are robbed of oxygen, producing effects and colors which vary according to how long the piece is exposed, the quality and quantity of the reduction material, and whether the work is left to re-oxidise as it cools. The variables are many, but with experience a degree of control is possible. It is very much a ‘try it and see’ experience.
Registration/Cancellation policy: Payment due in full at registration. $150 is non refundable.