Nest bouwers

Het liefst zou ik vandaag gaan spinnen in de zon, maar eerst moet ik de keramiek voorbereiden voor de Raku-dag. Ik ga naar een Raku workshop en moet biscuit gebakken keramiek meebrengen. Daar we leren om ze glazuren en te bakken in een Raku oven. Raku is een traditionele Japanse manier van glazuren.

Het is lente en de vogels bouwen hun nesten. Overal is inspiratie. Ik ga ‘Nest bouwers’ maken. Na acht uur aan mijn vogels gewerkt te hebben zijn mijn handen enorm uitgedroogd door de klei.

I am really looking forward spending my evening spinning greasy wool. I try to make an irregular yarn; not too thick and not too thin. To do this I prefer to use the largest pulley on the Bliss with little pressure on the brake. This results in a loosely twisted wool, which is perfect since I would like to felt the resulting yarn. The spinning is great and the lanolin in the wool nurtures the dry skin of my hands.

The Raku workshop takes place on a beautiful warm day. With an iron rod we empty the hot kiln. The glazed birds are now 1000 degrees Celsius (1800F) and are moved to a kiln where they get smoked. The black smoke makes the crackle visible and the ceramics are then cooled in water. Unfortunately one of my birds breaks, teaching me that you should never have too high expectations of the outcome. Everything can happen, so therefore could also go wrong. It was a very interesting day, which will be repeated in September. Practice makes perfect!