THE RAKU PROCESS:

Raku pottery was made long ago for Japanese tea ceremonies. It was modernized later into the process you see today , often called Western Raku. This involves taking a piece of ceramic pottery that has been bisque fired and glazed then firing it in a raku kiln (which we built ourselves). The piece is then fired to about 1800 degrees F and pulled out of the kiln while still red hot then placed in a reduction chamber containing organic materials such as newspaper, sawdust, leaves, etc. Smoke is created and reacts with the piece leaving the unglazed portion black (a very unique characteristic of raku). It's so exciting and creates one of kind colors which are very hard to duplicate. Please note that raku is not food safe nor is it intended to hold liquid.

 
Click here for the wikipedia definition of raku.