Meet Kathleen of Down Under Pottery...

Down Under Pottery Studio and Gallery

Located at 3318 Randolph Street in Lincoln, Nebraska 68510

Kathleen Grossman opened Down Under Pottery in March of 1997. She has a Bachelors degree in art and psychology and a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting. Teaching is what she likes best and we think she does a pretty good job! Kathleen has been teaching pottery for 18 years. She is active in her children's schools and loves to garden. Kathleen intends the pottery to be an inviting, comfortable place to pot, create, and meet great people.

Raku Pottery

Posted on June 16, 2008
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Raku is a firing normally done outside in a gas kiln and is completed the same day. Kathleen will plan a day for raku firing and we come prepared to have fun.

Raku glaze is applied to bisque fired pots. They are then placed in the kiln and it is fired up to around 1300 degrees. When firing is complete, the lid is pulled off and the pottery is pulled out using tongs and placed in garbage cans filled with combustible materials - like newspaper. The pottery is quite hot so the newspaper will catch on fire. The lids are placed on to keep the smoke inside the can. This makes the pottery turn black where there is no glaze. The pottery is pulled out of the cans and placed in buckets of water. When cooled, they are taken out and scrubbed with ajax to clean them up.

What you can make for raku...

Posted on June 16, 2008
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Jewelry, beads, buttons, whistles, candle holders, decorative vases, clocks... the possibilities are limited only by the imagination.

Some of the potters' favorite links...

Bracker's Good Earth Clays, Inc. - anything pottery, they have it

Food Bank of Lincoln

Lincoln City Libraries - carries a good selection of books on pottery

Russel Fouts - Potter's Portal - hours and hours of really great reading