Here she glazes things for RAKU firing.
For 14 years we lived off what we produced. There were a few thousand ceramic objects. I turned, Eldir glazed. Some great years with lots of people who bought everything we made.

Tags:   Ceramics RAKU pots ceramics workshop Høvåg Norway Experience tourist attraction

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Exhibition under the auspices of Vennesla art association.
For 14 years we lived off what we produced. There were a few thousand ceramic objects. I turned, Eldir glazed. Some great years with lots of people who bought everything we made.

Tags:   Ceramics RAKU pots ceramics workshop Høvåg Norway Experience tourist attraction ngc

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Winter 1983
A picture of how a RAKU fire takes place. Espen with the wood-fired oven, Eli putting the things into the oven. Me who reduces the burnt object and finally Nasjia who cleans the soot. Taken with my old Nikomat.

Raku ware (楽焼, raku-yaki) is a type of Japanese pottery traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremonies, most often in the form of chawan tea bowls. It is traditionally characterised by being hand-shaped rather than thrown, fairly porous vessels, which result from low firing temperatures, lead glazes and the removal of pieces from the kiln while still glowing hot. In the traditional Japanese process, the fired raku piece is removed from the hot kiln and is allowed to cool in the open air.
The final phase in the Western technique
The Western version of raku was developed in the 20th century by studio potters. Typically wares are fired at a high temperature, and after removing pieces from the kiln, the wares are placed in an open-air container filled with combustible material, which is not a traditional Raku practice in Japan. The Western process can give a great variety of colors and surface effects, making it very popular with studio and amateur potters.

Tags:   ngc Ceramics Raku home

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Høvåg Kunsthåndverk 1981 to 1993
Here you see the oven, the flames licking up from the opening, about 1000 degrees. I use gloves and tongs to lift things out of the oven. When I see that the glaze has solidified, I put the object in sawdust to create a reducing atmosphere, it gives the most exciting colours. After a couple of minutes, I pick up the still warm thing with the tongs and carefully drop it into the tub of water. I see in the picture that this is one of the first things of the day.

Tags:   Ceramics RAKU pots ceramics workshop Høvåg Norway Experience tourist attraction

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Høvåg Kunsthåndverk 1980 to 1993.
On Sundays during the summer holidays from June to August, we invited you to RAKU burning. RAKU is an old Japanese process where we glazed the raw-fired and glazed items in a wood-fired oven. I used to burn approx. 40 items on a typical Sunday. On a good Sunday, over half a hectare of 60cm birch wood was used.
My task was to talk, burn, talk, burn. Eli took care of the sales. When I look back on the 13 years we worked with ceramics, around 4,000 objects were fired in this way. Everything was sold, today we are left with a handful of things, not even the best, they disappeared as quickly as I got them out of the oven.
After such a Sunday, I was so tired that I sat on the floor in the shower and just let the hot water flow. One thing was that my arms were constantly hairless, the heat from the oven fixed that. Remember we are talking about a thousand degrees.

Tags:   Ceramics RAKU pots ceramics workshop Høvåg Norway Experience tourist attraction

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