*images from Marcia Selsor’s website. See more images here
A few weeks ago, we announced that we would be experimenting with the Obvara or “Baltic Raku” technique. Recently featured in Pottery Making Illustrated as popularized by Marcia Selsor, this process strikes me as the marriage of Raku and Beer. I say that jokingly and based on the use of a fermented liquid mixture. We’ve been brewing up our batch since Tuesday and we’ll be ready to experiment! Obvara is a glaze-less technique, much like horsehair or feathering. We will be adding a 4th Raku Kiln Set-up to the south of the 3 “regular raku” which will be devoted to these raw clay techniques. If you are planning to experiment with Obvara or Horsehair/Feathering, skip the glaze table and be sure to mark your fire-card appropriately!
To see this process in action, check out the great video that Ceramic Arts Daily made of Marcia demonstrating this technique (note the Bracker Raku Kiln in the video 🙂 :
