First Raku! Obvara and Horsehair

I got the chance to partake in my first raku firing on Oct 29th. In this particular raku firing, we used horsehair and Obvara. Obvara is an old Eastern European firing method; the work is taken from the kiln from 700 - 900C depending on clay and thickness of work, and plunged into a yeast/flour/water mixture and then immediately into cold water. It is an organic-like purely decorative finish. Most people do horsehair and obvara separately but, we were able to experiment with the different techniques together. Here are some pieces I made and methods I used.

Vessel with feather, horsehair and obvara.

As we continued the raku, we were learning different methods to approach the obvara. I would dunk my pieces in, then splash up and down to play with the dark line that forms where the liquid meets the white clay.

As you can see, this method creates multiple lines that create a landscape-like look.

At first, I was not quenching my vessels in water for long enough. This caused them to overcook in some parts and become really dark. However, I really enjoy it on this vessel because I left half of it just horsehair and no obvara. This creates a unique contrast which I find very beautiful.

On this vase, I used the feather like a paint brush and moved it across the surface. I then added horsehair and did the obvara. I think it may be too much going on, because the shape of the vessel is complicated.

a video of me working on the first vessel posted on this blog.