The secrets of Raku Revealed
 

I've had quite a few people tell me lately that they just can't get any colors out of their Raku, and want to know what my secret is. Well I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone else.....LOL!
I went through tubs of raku frit before figuring it out, so I'll give you a few tips on what works for me. And if anyone else has any tips, please feel free to chime in. But first, a little raku eye candy to get you motivated......









Okay, in a nutshell, it's all about heating it up super hot then chilling it real quick. Try this ...... Make a very small black barrel. Roll it in #0 raku frit and melt it in. Let the bead cool until it looses it's glow then super heat it until it gets that "white orange" glow. Take out of the flame and gently marver it with a graphite or brass tool. You will notice the raku turns black. THIS IS A GOOD THING! Now encase the bead in clear. You will start to see the colors develope as the bead looses it's glow. And even more gorgeous colors will appear when it's cooled and you take your bead out of the kiln.

The same thing applies to beads that you don't plan on encasing, but you may have to experiment a bit to know how hot to go before chilling.

To do a "Rainbow Dot".....make a bead, add a dot of raku with stringer, heat it and flatten it with a graphite or metal tool of your choosing, let the bead cool slightly then just barely heat the dot again, as soon as you see the edges of the dot start to well up flatten it again. This is what makes that little rainbow pattern in the dot. Then apply a drop of clear over the raku dot and tada!....You've got a raku rainbow!

Now get off that computer and go DO some RAKU! :-D

Edited to say....You really need to read through this entire thread. There's tons of beautiful photos and great advise from not only myself, but lots of other members as well. But if you want my most up-to-date explanation of Raku in a nutshell, go to post #405 on page number 14. As time has gone by, I'm starting to figure out how to better put into words what I need to say about Raku. Print it out....Read it...Have fun with it, and don't forget to post photos of your gorgeous beads!

Nice beads, Dawn! I love those cones.

Thanks Kevan!!!

Can I ask what black you are making your twisties with? Oh, and what you are using to encase with? I want to encase some plain raku, but I only have 104.

Awsome - just awsome. Thanks for your generosity !!! This is going to make a lot of people very happy, myself included. LOL

Sure! I used intense black stringers on a raku rod to do the twisties. They were my very first ones! Raku twisties, that is.
And I usually try to use Lauscha clear to encase with, but sometimes I break down and use this nice factory pulled Vetrofond stringer that I ordered a buttload of a while back when it was on sale.

Oh, thanks!!

Thank you for the great tips Dawn! My problem is when I think its hot enough, I also start to lose the shape or I don't get the cool colors until the raku stringer has spread a great deal and I would rather have thinner detail lines. My stringers are pretty thin, a mil or less. Maybe I'm overheating? Those rainbow dots are very cool!

Just rated my first thread!! This is SUPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much...I have been playing with raku all week...getting better, but I copied every word and tomorrow WILL be a better raku day!! Thanks, Dawn...

Okay....maybe we can fix that too. To get good colors out of your scroll work without having it spread too much, try this.

Make your bead and apply the raku scrollwork or lines or whatever, but leave it raised. Spot heat your raku design and chill and flatten with a little metal spatula or butter knife. Heat and chill and flatten until you've coaxed some colors out of the raku. At this point you can gently heat your bead back up to a low glow to shape it up or squish it in a press, just being careful not to get it too hot again.

Once you've "chilled" the colors into your raku, it will stay there unless you overheat it, and then it could go back to browns again.

Woohoo! I got Stars!!! :-D Thanks!
And happy raku-ing at the torch tomorrow!

Thank you Dawn! That's exactly what I'm doing wrong, trying to keep it all hot at once. Many times I've lost the color and had to start all over. I guess I was more worried about getting the bead too cold and cracking it. You've given me all kinds of great ideas to play with after Shabbat. I was starting to get frustrated and decided I would back shelf the raku for awhile, but it keeps calling me...

I didn't know we could rate threads (newbie here); this is my first one. Cool!

Great tips Dawn, thanks heaps!
Although, I've tried superheating, get the raku going so dark I can't see it, and can't get any more colour to come back....! What's happening there? Some designs I don't want to encase and I get frustrated when the raku 'dissapears' on me.... Any ideas?

Shelley
Sydney Australia

While encasing raku is almost fool proof, NOT encasing raku can sometimes require a little more coaxing. Here's what I do. Once the raku is too dark, I let the bead cool just a bit until it totally looses it's glow. Then I bring it back into the flame and heat it good and hot (but not "white hot") again and the flame seems to suck the color back out of it.....but then you need to spot chill it again to get some of the color back.

The part of this whole raku thing that I had the hardest time with was allowing myself to put a bead in the kiln that looked like it had black raku on it. I had one bead in particular that had scroll work on it that looked black. The next day when I pulled it out of the kiln, what was ugly black had turned to a most awesome red with blue and green edges!

That's why I say it takes a little experimenting to know how it should look while it's still hot to get the results you want once it's cooled down. Make some tiny test beads trying different things and let them air cool so you see what the results are right away. Then pick one you like and try to do the same thing again. Once you get used to knowing what to look for, you can move on to that big fabulous set!

raku rox! another thing I'll add is try this ... make a barrel .... get some semi thick raku stringer and go from side to side "coiling" it around the bead ... do what you wish on the ends .... as soon as you get the raku on ... do not super heat or touch a marver .... just burn it in as you would any other stringer ... again ... try not to super heat it .... now clear it as you would any other bead .... I use the "coil" method with 3 to 4 mm Lau. stringer ... the result always varies because of how much heat you used as you melted the stringer in. I've gotten a very "velvet" type green .... and a tripy cosmos type green look. Try it , you'll like it 8) Be Blessed and 5 star thread , thnx for doing it!

raku base colrs
 

Hi Dawn,
What base colors do you use with the raku? Also what c.o.e? Thanks Joyce

Ooooo! Thanks Chad! That sounds very cool. Now we need to see a picture!!! :biggrin:

Hi Joyce,
I use all soft glass, 104 coe. And you can use any color for the base, but my favorite is black. I like the way the colors POP against the black. Cobalt is nice too.....and some colors react with the raku causing it to be outlined in black, like ivory, coral and turquoise. I guess it all depends on the look you're going for. I've never met a raku bead that I didn't like....LOL!

Wha a great tips, I just bought 3 jars of Raku from heritage and Connie Fox, I manage to get some colors out, but wonder what is the best way. Thank you for your generosity to share dawn! Lovely lovely beads you got there. Yummie! :D :love:

Oh, I looove the raku rainbow dots! I will give it a try soon! :love:

.

Oh, oh oh!!! Now that I'm actually AWAKE, I just re-read you question, and I understand now that you want to encase "Pure" raku......

I tried with Lauscha but of course the bead cracked, so now I just use a 104 coe base rolled in raku powder for almost the same effect, with less risk of the bead cracking.

To encase pure raku, you would need to use a clear that is closer to the coe of raku, like maybe system 96 or Kugler?? I myself prefer to encase with small stringer sized rods of 2-3mm, and I haven't found any that small that would be compatible with the raku. So I've been sticking to the "rolling it in powder" method.

Sorry for the confusion....

have you tried Pi - glass - I am not sure what happened to them lately but they are 96 COE and I have some
Bridget

Fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing. Dawn!

I do have to say, though....in defense of Raku in it's natural state... I like the khaki it makes! :D

Hi Briget,
No, actually I haven't ever heard of Pi Glass, but then again, I really need to get out more!....LOL!
I have trouble encasing with larger diameter rods, so if I ever find any 96coe clear in small diameter rods, like 2-3mm, I would surely try it.

Oh Amber, I totally agree! Raku on white is one of my favorites for my seashells. I try to leave it in it's natural, "unteased" state for the gorgeous hues of browns and russets.

Thanks for this great info. I have 5 fars of raku sitting on a shelf because I could never get it to work well. I think I'll try again.

Thanks, this has been a great help...I've had to settle for only the tans and browns...Going to try again.

Dawn, i do believe i love you!

8-)

Dawn, I just wanted you to know that the next morning I made 12 raku beads, and 10 turned out just right!!! Thank you so much for the help...if I can ever figure out how to post a pix, I will show you!! This entire thread, including comments from others helped me a lot...thanks again, pat

I made some twisites with the intense black. They look pretty neat. I encased it with vetrofond.

Hi Melissa,

I'd be interested to find out how these tips helped if at all. I just read on another one of your posts that you're on a HH. I really don't have any experience on a HotHead, but have heard that it's harder to get the full color range out of raku. All I can say is just give it a try and heat the snot out of it!....LOL!

If that doesn't work, then try just getting the frit on the bead and don't even melt it in all the way, and then encase it real quick. This way you will be trapping the frit under the clear encasing before it has a chance for the colors to fade away.....If that make any sense.....

Let me know how it works out, and good luck! :)

Woohoo!!! =D> I just love it when a plan comes together!!!

That's great Kevan! Now show us the beadies!!!! :biggrin:

=D> Wow Dawn!!! Your beads are BEAUTIFUL!!!! And the advice!!! The advice is Awesome!!! I'm headed to my torch right now!!! :D
Hugs!!!
Bree

Hi, Dawn!
 

Wow, I think you've now become the "Queen of Raku!" Sounds exotic, doesn't it? I'm going out on a limb to ask some questions that may be really naive, but I need to ask them for clarification (kind of a newbie) and I love Raku so I just have to ask: Somewhere in the thread you mentioned Raku rod -- can you buy Raku rod or do you have to mix it yourself? When you make stringer, what size Raku are you using? Any help you can give me in clearing this all up would be really great. When I grow up I want to Raku like you! Oooooh sounds like a country song! :grin:

Thanks,

--Deb

Awesome beads Dawn and thanks for sharing!

Donna

Thank you so much, Deb! Well, now I'm just going to have to make myself a raku crown to wear....LOL! Ooooo....wouldn't THAT be pretty!

I buy my raku cane (rods) from Olympic Color Rods, but I think Valerie Cox also offers it for sale on occasion. If you need links to either you can email me.
I usually pull my stringers from the cane because it's much easier, but before I had the cane, I would pull stringers from frit. The easiest way I found to do this was by heating up a bare (not dipped in bead release) mandrel.(I use either the 3/32 or 1/8 inch size for this.) Get the tip red hot and dip into your frit. Any size frit will work, but the larger stuff works faster. Keep heating and dipping until you have a nice sized gather to pull the stringer from.

Hope this helps! And any question is a good question....that's how we all learn....even the Queen of Raku....LOL!

This is a really bad picture ofthis bead, but here it is with twisties and color.

[quote=Kevan]This is a really bad picture ofthis bead, but here it is with twisties and color.

Wooooo! Yeah Baby! Now that's what I call doin' the twist!
Very Nice colors, Kevan!

Thanks, Dawn!
 

Thanks a bunch for your help! I really appreciate the thorough response--it completely cleared things up. I was just missing a couple steps. And I hadn't ever seen any Raku cane (course I've had a somewhat limited list of suppliers until recently). I haven't seen anything at Val's so I'll check out Olympic - thanks!

Loooove the Raku crown idea --- bet you could do it :wink:

--Deb

Dawn,
Can I ask what kind of raku did you use on picture #3? I love the blues and purple...I've had some wonderful people send me some Raku cuz I never heard of it or used it and i'm not sure what colors they are. They all seem brown to me:-)
Thanks
Irene<------2am and going to try at least one tonite!

i can't wait, either. unfortunately, i can't get to the torch for the next couple of weekends (man, having a job and a life really is starting to interfere with my glass addiction), but i will be working on this all summer!

Hi Irene,

All raku is the same. It's always brown or shades of brown before you work it in the flame. That's what's so amazing about this glass is that you can get all kinds of color from it just by the way you work it.
The base color of the bead seems to have an effect on the raku as well. For instance, look at the picture of my cone shaped beads. The bead that seem to have the most brown colors on them were made with a base of clear. The ones showing the purples and blues were made on a base of black. I think raku looks great against just about any color, but the black really seems to make the colors pop.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention is that when ordering from Olympic, make sure that you order "CANE" and not "ROD". They carry both. What they refer to as "ROD" is this huge rod of glass, looks like 2 inches in diameter or more, and that's what the glass blowers use for the large stuff like vases and such. What us lampworkers use, they call "CANE" and is 5-7mm diamers like the other glass we use. They have a tab at the top of their website for "Lampworking" and that's where you will find the cane. They sell it in 1/4 kilo bundles which is roughly 1/2 pound. The official name for raku is Reichenbach R-108, Iris Orange Opaque. It got it's name "Raku" from Valerie Cox, when she first started selling it and named it "Raku Jitterbug" and the name just stuck.

Thanks for the thread dawn!! Paula

Ok, I order raku cane from Olympic and it came today!! If you live close, you might want to get it yourself...only drawback was shipping was exactly the same as the rods!! But, it is really pretty...and another question, Dawn, or anybody else who wants to jump in...I have at least three maybe four different shades...is that normal??? Going to pull stringer now and try to make the twisty cane...thanks again, pat

Yes, it will be different hues to each rod. makes no difference.

Hi Pat,
Yes, the rods all have different hues, but once it's worked in the flame it will all have the same results. I have about 5 pounds of cane and they all look different. I get mine from Olympic too. My only drawback is that it takes over a week to get here because I'm all the way over here in Florida! I live far, far away from glass land....LOL!
Have fun doin' the twist!

Does anyone make this stuff thats more compatible with system 90?? I heard that I needed to be more careful adding raku to it than if I was going up to 104.. Something about you had less issues moving up with a glass than down. But that didn't totally make sense either so maybe someone confused? I can't even remember when and where I heard it recently.

Hi Arlene,

Is it System 96 that you're referring to? If so, I would think that the Reichenbach Raku would be just as compatible, if not more so. Reichenbach glass has a measured coe of 91 to 94, which is even closer to System 96 than the 104 coe soft glass.

Now if it's Bullseye, with a coe of 90 that you're talking about, I'm pretty sure you can use the raku with that glass too, being careful to use it sparingly. Although I can't say for certain, I think I've seen some beads made with Bullseye that had raku on them. Kalera would be a good person to ask, as I think she uses all three types of glass, and would be familiar with how raku works with each of them.