Raku Kiln Building added to courses

We've added a raku kiln-building course to the weekend roster. This year, it was based on a day during the 5-day summer school, but that proved too tight on time, so it's being opened up to a full weekend next summer (August 2-3).

The course included construction of raku kilns by 4 students from ceramic fibre, wire, ceramic buttons and not much else. These take about 4-5 hours to make and the size is about 22 inches high by 20 inches diameter. The cost of materials this year, including the kiln shelf and props, but without the raku burner, was about €200. The burner comes from a builders merchants - it's a roofing torch for melting tar - and with the gas regulator, costs another €150 - but you don't need to buy this till after the course.

Anyway, the kilns are light enough to put in the boot of your car (once they've cooled down!) and they last for ages, provided they're stored indoors.

The weekend course includes making up your own raku glazes and trying out the kilns