I wrote last week about my anxiety about participating in an art class at a local studio here. Well, my worries were for naught. The Raku class was fun, and far easier than I imagined.

The class was taught by a local artist who makes a lot of pottery. He is a retired electician who teaches how to be an electrician at a nearby technical college. He gives all sorts of art classes at his studio, which is in an enormous barn on a former horse farm just outside of town, and was filled with paints, glazes, potters wheels, kilns, etc.

We had to choose a pre-cast figure to glaze. I chose a dragon and decided if it turned out I would give it to my grandson. Boommate chose a vase. We were given a wide variety of glazes to choose from. I chose two glazes that were supposed to turn multiple colors. Some glazes were just single colors. We had to give the figures two coats of glaze. It dried really fast so we could fo two coats in quick succession. There were about 12 people in the class, including teens and adults. Many had been to his classes before.

The figures were fired in a kiln set to 1850°. There was fire shooting out of the top of the kiln. As they finished firing, the figures were placed in buckets, and we had to throw pieces of paper on them, which burst into flame and did something to the glaze finish. When they were a liitle cooler and the paper was all burned they were hosed down with cold water. Then we had to scrub them with soap and abrasive cleanser to remove any ash.

You can see my dragon in the header photo. My lack of artistic talent is well known in the family. Daughter commented “YOU painted THAT?!!” when she saw the photo. I am pretty proud of it. Boommate and I decided we will probably go to a winter class.

What have you made that makes you the proudest? What is your favorite kind of art?