Potter Tests Skill on Delicate Japanese Pieces

Ever so carefully, Meriwether McClorey puts pieces of raku pottery into her kiln. The Somerset potter plans to fire about 30 pieces on this chilly afternoon.

The kiln, a converted water heater, will hold only three pieces. So McClorey and her husband will spend more than eight hours repeating the firing process. It’s a painstaking but fascinating method of making art, and friends come by to watch during the evening.

Raku (pronounced rah-KOO) can be traced back to traditional Japanese tea ceremonies. More than 1,000 years ago, decorating and firing pottery was a social event marked by drinking tea.

McClorey, who has specialized in raku for about four years, says the process has been changed in the United States, where potters are apt to do firing much more quickly.

To look at the delicate pottery, it is obvious that much skill goes into every piece. Yet, to an extent, the outcome of each one is unpredictable. During firing, new patterns emerge. They work in concert with the original, intended ones.

“Go ahead and light it,” McClorey says to her husband, John.

Fueled by a combination of propane gas and air, the kiln will eventually heat up to 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, glazing occurs, giving each piece of raku a unique look.

Much work has already gone into this pottery. At her studio in Somerset, McClorey shaped the various bowls, plates and vases of clay and did preparatory painting and designing.

The firing takes place in a sheltered kiln area outside McClorey’s home in rural Pulaski County. Before going into the kiln, pieces are preheated on a wood stove in the house.

“Everything’s very gradual,” McClorey says, explaining the different steps involved. At this stage, the pottery has a pasty appearance.

Glassy, Colorful Surface

But after the items have spent 20 minutes in the kiln, McClorey peeks through a hole in the kiln door. The glaze has started to bubble. Once melted, the glaze--a mixture of clay and silica--gives the finished product a glassy, colorful surface.

After firing, John McClorey uses large tongs to remove the pottery. Each piece is then sprayed with a copper sulfate solution and placed inside a garbage barrel for smoking for about 35 minutes. This affects both the color and texture of the finished product.

The artist seems proudest of things that are the simplest in the firing process, such as the old vacuum cleaner that distributes air into the kiln. She points to crinkled cardboard on top of the vacuum cleaner. Hard to believe that a little piece of paper regulates the air flow.

“It works, though,” she says, grinning.