In the end of January I have attended a Naked Raku workshop in Thomastown organised by  Ceramics Ireland . I already was familiar with both Raku and Naked Raku but wanted to extend my knowledge in this field. Naked Raku is a firing technique in which the pot is masked with the slip and then glazed and fired @ 1000 C then the kiln is opened and pots are transferred to the reduction chamber filled with sawdust, and covered to accommodate the reduction process. The difference between the Raku and Naked Raku is that in the second process the glaze is pealed off after firing and the pot unglazed- Naked. It all seems quite confusing and a bit complicated but in fact it is very simple, fast and effective way of decorating ceramics. The only disadvantage is that the pot is porous and can be use only as decoration as it is not food safe. With time the smoke marks can get lighter which can be slowed down by applying oil or floor polish paste on pots. Here are some photos - maybe they

I took part in a critical thinking workshop today which was design to develop a better understanding of the working and reasons behind my practice. I was familiar with some of the things I have to be conscious  about when making and designing and I was trying to employ them in my work this year. Today I had to ask myself lots of questions and also I got a chance to hear what my pierce think about my work and how it is understood. It was a valuable lesson and I am glad that I have taken some notes :) More or less the critical thinking is constant practice of asking yourself why are you doing what you are doing and looking at all aspects of the project: materials, making processes, sociological connections, history, how the work can be read from different perspectives and what is important to you as a maker, who is the audience etc. The key is to keep open mind and welcome challenges instead of proceeding with the easiest solution. I went to my studio work after lunch an

I got some commercial glazes - just to see if there is any difference between them and my own ones. I got some nice results : Metallic BlueBottle                                                     Glass Green                                                                                                                                       Metallic gold - have to retest with different application as it didn't work as good as I've expected.