Creation Process: Hand Carved Raku Tea Bowls
The tradition of Japanese Raku tea bowls is 400 years old. The hand-carved bowls are often valued for their irregular shapes because the shape may also be a dimension of artistic expression. That is why I hand-carve my bowls.
Raku means enjoyment. I enjoy the unique, unpredictable results of the firing process – the random, playful patterns from crackling and smoking on the glazed surfaces. I have carved over a thousand bowls. My tea bowls have a diameter ranging from 2 ½ “ – 4 “and a height of ranging from 2 “ – 4”. Each bowl is named only after completion of the entire Raku process.