Alcohol Reduction, Good friends,

Opening the kiln. 

Hello readers! I'm rushing off some adrenaline and high amounts of nicotine from tonights raku firing. Our kiln, lovely as she is, is old, beat down, and horribly inefficient. So instead of a quick 45 minute firing in those fancy top hat raku kilns, our firings take around 3 hours at best. This is not horrible though. This allows time to pull up a few chairs around the warm kiln, chain smoke, and hang out with some good friends around the fire. These firings are much more fun with friends. I came to MSU Mankato last year as a total stranger to everyone in the ceramic studio. After a short time i became friends with mostly everyone in the studio. I now regard them as my family. Were not the only studio with a family atmosphere either. Most ceramists I talk to recall the family like atmosphere in their own college. Theres something to the art of ceramics, such as the late hours required, the amount of knowledge that can be shared, and the absolute insanity that goes on in a studio that brings us all together. Enough about that so after enough nicotine to kill a horse has been inhaled the kiln reaches the graces of 1800 degrees. In any other firing i would have pulled the pieces, reduced, and let cool. Tonight, However, I had a secret weapon. ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL. Now, Being the complete pyromaniac that I am, I was very excited to spray this all over the piece. For those unaware of the process of raku firing, here is a brief over view. Raku firing takes place in a small compact kiln with glazes that mature (or melt) around 1800 F. Once temperature is reached, the door is opened, and the pieces are pulled from the hot kiln. They are usually thrown into combustibles, such as saw dust, newspaper, clothes left at your apartment from the drunk girl the night before... Etc. Once lit on fire, the pieces are covered with a  air tight metal container, this covering, with the combustion creates reduction. Any air is sucked out by the fire trying to burn and soon the smoke is the only thing left in the container. This reacts with the glazes and causes the color to form in different, beautiful patterns.

Tonight, instead of reducing right away I took the alcohol, put it into a garden sprayer, and with the help of my friends, Taylor and Cody (pictured) I sprayed the piece with the alcohol. The alcohol engulfed the piece and made for an insane show of light and color. I felt like a child again looking at the lights of a christmas tree. I was in complete awe of the flame, I was entranced. After spraying it for a few minutes I tossed the piece into a trash can of newspaper and covered it for reduction. My face was sweating, my hair felt burnt, I was shaking a little, but all in all.  I came out feeling like I was wrapped in the warm satisfying feeling of discovery.

The finished product. 

A couple people asked me why it mattered to spray it with alcohol. Well, I really didn't know either. heres what I think makes the difference. When you throw it into..say... sawdust. All of the tiny shavings burn differently making a extremely busy, random surface Alcohol reduction calms down the surface, it gives a more even, flowing surface, without sacrificing the color intensity because you have a more even, clean burning flame around the piece. The process of it is so incredible that if you are a ceramist, or a studying one (like myself) I highly recommend doing it. I personally hate just turning a kiln on and leaving it. It takes your hand out of the process which then, takes the art (or craftsmanship) out of the piece. And shit, its fucking fun!

All Good Things,
Fire Pots Not Guns,

Mike Cimino