The word "Raku" can be translated to mean "happiness by chance," which neatly sums up the firing process. The bisque fired pieces of pottery are placed in the kiln for a second firing and then removed once they become red hot. Horse hair is applied to the red hot pottery and it instantly carbonizes on the surface, leaving smokey black lines. There is no way to control the marks that are created, it's just happiness by chance! In some cases, the act of removing the pieces causes thermal shock and can crack the vases. Karin has developed her own version of the Japanese art of Kintsukuroi (or Kintsugi). By repairing broken pottery with precious metal, it is looked at to be more valuable for having been broken. Each piece is then adorned with found pieces of root wood, feathers and semi precious gem stones.

If you would like to have your favorite equine immortalized in a beautiful piece of art, or have a special tribute piece created in their memory, Karin would be honored to help! The horse hair raku she creates can easily be customized with your horse's hair and the process uses a relatively small amount of hair. This process also works well with cat or dog hair. Contact Karin for more information.