Raku Clay

[whitejoyce]

Hello,
I forgot to ask another question

can this raku clay be use for a sculpture & such? Indoors/outdoors

[Ron Coleman]

You should be able to use it indoors, but it is too porous for outside use. It will soak up water easily and if frozen may crack. It may in Arizona though.

Ron

[hoknok]

You can use it outside provided you glaze it first. The glaze needs to be heavy and you could just use a gloss coating to retain the clay color. Otherwise, like Ron said, it will soak up the water.

Be sure to glaze inside the container as well if there is a chance water will get in. Raku clay is formulated to withstand more thermal shock than other clay since the Raku firing process is quite "abusive" or intense. When I fire Raku clay, I also may place it quickly once its reached the high temp, into various things like sawdust, old car oil... and then it gets dumped into water.

Its a very "hands-on" experience worth checking out. Just make sure you make lots of things and get attached to none of them untill after the process. You will loose a few or the color may not come out right for some of the items.