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Raku is a clay firing
process, Japanese in origin. The word means "simple pleasure, joy and beauty."
Raku is unlike other ceramic processes because of its unpredictability. Instead of being
heated and then cooled very slowly, Raku works are plunged quite suddenly into a hot kiln,
removed when they reach a glowing red heat, and then buried abruptly in a pit of soil and
other organic materials. The materials are burned into the vessel’s hot surface to
create spontaneous design and texture. |
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| "The organic material around it ignites," explains Hawley, "and the clay absorbs the carbon as it cools, making the delicate black lines of the marked Raku process. The metallic blues, greens and purples develop from copper, nickel, manganese and cobalt in the cluster and 'patina' surfaces." |
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"The entire process takes an hour to an hour-and-a-half, as compared to 16 to 36 hours for other ceramic processes. The whole thing is so violent that pieces you’ve spent limitless hours working on can just crumble before your eyes," he says. "But the beauty of it is, because there are so many variables (relative humidity, wind speed and the particular characteristics of the soil, to name only a few), that a big part of it is simply releasing yourself to the process. The finished piece represents a conversation between what I’ve been able to manipulate and what the process itself does after I release it." |
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The Hawleys have created a moving series of crosses using his flesh-colored "naked Raku" and Raku patina luster process in a variety of carefully researched styles and variations, from prehistoric to modern times. |
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The copper mosaic process involves a copper sheet painted with gold platinum and rhodium. "The color is primarily copper," Hawleys says, which complements the Raku tile. "The glaze is an oxide of copper, air-brushed on. The relationship between the sheet of copper and the glaze is a marriage of the two kindred processes. [Tupper and I] both designed them, and Tupper executes the engraving and mosaic."
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To learn more about Raku and Copper Mosaic art,
or to make a purchase, please call Richard and Tupper directly at
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