Yellow Copper Lusters, Beading Glazes, and Other Special Treats for Raku

I am more or less of a recreational raku-er. Ceramics can be a solitary pursuit; raku - for me at least - is a team sport. I regularly offer raku workshops for Portland Pottery, and occasionally do a firing with my classes. In a communal studio like Portland Pottery, students have little exposure to the hot side of things. They make the work, put it on a cart and then...well, it goes away for a while, and comes back changed. It's not practical to involve students in the firing of the stoneware kiln, apart from peeking into the spyholes on occasion, but we can load, fire, and unload the raku kiln all in one evening. It gives students a chance to be directly involved and take some of the mystery out of the firing process.
The workshops are a bit different. Often they are folks who already know and love raku, but don't have their own kilns, sprinkled with a few beginners who have heard about it and want to try it. It's been a great season for raku, with the workshops filling up quickly and we've had some gorgeous results. I've got one last workshop to teach, and I want to shake things up a bit, with new glazes and some terra sigs to use with horsehair and feathers.

Our last raku of the season is Saturday November 1. Give Cooper at Portland Pottery a cal if you want in; 207-772-4334. 

PALE LEMON LUSTER

Colemanite  75% (Sub. Gerstley Borate)
F/4 Soda Spar 25%
Copper Carb 3.0%
Manganese Dioxide  1.5%

Lemon Luster

Gerstley Borate 1500
Copper Carbonate 45
Manganese Dioxide  20 

Glass Bead Raku
 50 gerstley borate
 40 borax
 10 flint
 50 magnesium carbonate
 10 zircopax