Horsehair_Vase_Judge%27s_Special_Award_Mashiko_2006_Swanica_Ligtenberg

Horse hair raku is a method of decorating

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...

through the application of

horsehair Horsehair is the long hair growing on the manes and tails of horses. It is used for various purposes, including upholstery, brushes, the bows of musical instruments, a hard-wearing fabric called haircloth, and for horsehair plaster, a wallc ...

and other dry

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...

aceous material to the heated ware. The burning carbonaceous material creates smoke patterns and carbon trails on the surface of the heated ware that remain as decoration after the ware cools. Although preparation is similar to

pit fired pottery Pit firing is the oldest known method for the firing of pottery. Examples have been dated as early as 29,000–25,000 BCE, while the earliest known kiln dates to around 6000 BCE, and was found at the Yarim Tepe site in modern Iraq. Kilns all ...

and other primitive firing techniques, horsehair raku is generally considered an alternative form of Western-style

Raku ware is a type of Japanese pottery traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremonies, most often in the form of ''chawan'' tea bowls. It is traditionally characterised by being hand-shaped rather than thrown, fairly porous vessels, which result from low ...

, because it uses Western-style Raku kilns, firing techniques and tools. Horsehair raku usually utilizes burnishing and/or

Terra sigillata Terra sigillata is a term with at least three distinct meanings: as a description of medieval medicinal earth; in archaeology, as a general term for some of the fine red Ancient Roman pottery with glossy surface slips made in specific areas of t ...

techniques to prepare the unglazed surface before Bisque firing. The bisque ware is heated in a kiln, then removed while still extremely hot. The decorating is performed when the ware is between 480 and 700 °C; lower temperatures do not effectively combust the horsehair and other materials, while higher temperatures cause the carbon makings to burn off leaving no lasting decorative effect, though success with horsehair has been achieved at temperatures up to 1000 °C. Strands of horsehair laid across hot ware leave a wandering linear smoke design on the surface. Other materials which can be used to create surface effects include sugar sprinkled on the hot surface to leave spotted smoke marks and feathers applied to the hot surface to give dark, feather shaped silhouettes. It is not known precisely how horsehair pottery was first developed, but several stories connect the beginnings of this technique to Native American

Pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

women.

References

{{Reflist} Types of pottery decoration