DIA90xH90mm, Hong Kong

This round bottle  is made by Chris Lo, founder of the Cobo Ceramic Workshop.

The clay body uses a groggy clay which can stand for the thermo shock created during the raku post reduction firing.  The matte black carbonized surfaces and black crackles are the main characteristic of raku firing.   The round shape gives a stable and strong body structure to avoid cracking.

Raku was started in Japan by Chojiro in the 16th century; unlike other type of pottery firing where they are loaded into a cold kiln with temperature rinsing slowly, taking anywhere from 8-24 hrs or longer, when the designated temperature is reached the heating is turned off and the contents allow to naturally cool down until  they can be removed with bare hands.  With raku, the pottery are loaded into a hot kiln where the desired temperature is reached in a much short time, can be as short as 15 mins).  The pottery is then removed from the hot kiln with the aids of tongs and put into a container of combustible material (sawdust, leaves, etc) to be smoked, the surface is carbonized reacting with the glaze and the clay giving the unique matt black unglazed clay and crackled glazed surfaces.