Bring 2-4 medium pieces of bisque fired pottery (coarse clays are best) to join this hands on workshop. Please wear closed toed shoes and long pants.
RAKU WORKSHOP
Is held at the Manhattan Beach Art Center, 1560 Manhattan Beach Blvd. May 20 at 5pm - 8pm
BEHIND THE SCENES:
What have we been up to?
We’ve been busy making the studio a better place to work for everyone!
Here are a few of the recent projects we’ve been working on:
New chucks and molds for your trimming and handbuilding needs.
Not sure what to make or how to decorate it? We’re making samples of techniques, glazes, slips, underglazes, and all things inspiration to get your creative juices flowing!
New slips are being made and tested. Look for small containers of Dark Red, New Blue, Pink, Green, and Gray slips to test out on your own.
SCIENCE CORNER
COOKIES: Love Them or Leave Them?
Cookies are coasters that we can use to protect the kiln shelf from a runny glaze
Use a cookie WHEN:
You are using a known runny glaze
You have used more than one glaze on a piece
Your piece is too delicate or fragile to handle
Runny
Multiple g lazes Delicate
Notoriously runny glazes:
Rutile
Colemanite
Cooper Blue Oribe Fish Guts Moonlight Chun Patsy’s Green
More than one glaze:
Only use a second glaze on the top ½ of your piece, leave at least 1/2" unglazed and use a cookie
Delicate work that may break
DID YOU KNOW?
You can RUIN a piece by using the wrong cookie!
DO NOT use a cookie:
For every piece or just in case
That is smaller than the foot of your piece
That is cracked, warped, or broken
That is more than 1/2" larger than the foot of the piece
NEVER combine multiple cookies or pieces to accommodate one piece
Do not use wadding under your pieces – it will warp them in the firing and the wadding can get stuck to the glaze
Too small
Too Larg e
This tiny cookie is not going to be able to catch any drips and may warp the bottom of your piece in the firing
This giant cookie is going to waste space in the kiln
What?Why ?
Combining multiple cookies into ‘ one ’ does not protect the shelf and can warp and ruin your piece
REMEMBER: a cookie will NOT PROTECT YOUR WORK. It is only there to protect the kiln shelf.
You may need to make your own cookies for large, oddly shaped or special work. We only stock a limited assortment of cookies that fit most common shapes and sizes.
STUDIO NEWS AND REMINDERS
Oops pieces:
All Oops pieces will get a HOT PINK tag and be placed on the red shelf at the front of the classroom Any Oops pieces left on the cart for over 4 weeks will be discarded
Studio glazes:
Something is amiss with Fish Guts, we ’ ve got the fish, but lost the guts! We’re trying to fix, but for now, it is not available. We will soon need to change Green to Black, so we are testing new recipes and, so far, have some exciting results.
Glaze and greenware tags:
Not Fish Guts in oxidation
Tags will be orange for this session, hopefully this will help everyone keep better track of older pieces. Please remember to have a Lab Tech or Instructor SIGN your tag; pieces missing a tag or signature may not be fired. Use the little weights on top of the greenware cart to keep tags from flying away.
Potter Otter says: Try the new NOT FISH GUTS glaze!
GLAZE OF THE WEEK
Lovely piece from Oxidation. Not sure on artist, but this Market Blue bowl with wax resist decoration just makes me want to sit in a meadow and watch the clouds go by.
I’m always a sucker for animals and these guys by Kyung S are adorable! On the left: Fish Guts with Rutile over it, on the right, Carbon Trap Shino it all its glory. Both Reduction.
Otis hit it out of the park with this Hidden Valley Ranch and Green to Black combo! Even taking this photo in the dark, the piece looks amazing. Fired in Reduction.
Is it the Eye of Sauron? No, it’s Patsy’s Green! Not sure on artist here, but they sure are a wizard with this glaze. Fired in Reduction.
This one is from last month, but deserves a mention: again, not glaze, so much as slip. Cat W drizzled different color slips onto this porcelain bowl, glazed it clear, and fired in Oxidation.
Not a glaze, true, but this marbled clay is pretty spectacular. You will have to ask Brian H which clays he used, but I see at least three colors. Fired in Reduction, no glaze.
Open Lab
9:00 - 1:00 Open Lab
WINTER 2026 SCHEDULE
1:00 - 5:00 Open Lab 9:00 - 1:00
(Alan) 1:30 - 4:30 Teens Class (Alan) 4:30-6:00
Teens Class (Kate) 4:30-6:00
Ceramics Class (Mitsuko) 10:00 - 1:00 Ceramics Class (Mitsuko) 1:00 - 4:00
Ceramics Class (Lowell) 10:00 - 1:00 Ceramics Class (Lowell) 1:15 - 4:15 Ceramics Class (Eilen) 6:30 - 9:30 Ceramics Class (Kathryn) 10:00 - 1:00 Ceramics Class (Kathryn) 1:00 - 4:00 Ceramics Class (Noah) 10:00 - 1:00 Ceramics Class (Noah) 1:00 - 4:00 Open Lab 10:00 - 2:00
Ceramics Class (Chris) 6:30 - 9:30 Ceramics Class (Alan) 6:30 - 9:30
Lab 2:00 - 6:00 Kids Class (Kate) 4:30-6:00 Kids Class (Kate) 4:30-6:00
Ceramics Class (Alan) 6:30 - 9:30
CLAY LIST AND CHARACTERISTICS
