![](https://i0.wp.com/malkinraku.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/sheep_08.jpg?resize=400%2C350&ssl=1)
We started making the sheep in the spring of 2008 with our move to the West Coast. On our arrival we were graciously invited to house our kiln with a friend’s studio on Hornby Island shown here tucked neatly into the woods.
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Recently we built a new kiln shed in another location also on Hornby Island.
![](https://i0.wp.com/malkinraku.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/sheep_09-e1556922772988.jpg?resize=500%2C333&ssl=1)
The Raku firing process originated in Japan forever ago and has been reinterpreted many times since then.
![](https://i0.wp.com/malkinraku.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/sheep_10.jpg?resize=500%2C376&ssl=1)
The primarly idea is to remove the fired ceramic piece from the kiln while it’s red hot.
![](https://i0.wp.com/malkinraku.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/sheep_11.jpg?resize=525%2C350&ssl=1)
The reduction part of it came along later and was developed in North America.
![](https://i0.wp.com/malkinraku.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/sheep_12b.jpg?resize=500%2C376&ssl=1)
Once the glaze reaches temperature the pieces are taken out one by one and put into a reduction chamber. The red hot piece ignites the combustible materials and burns for a short period of time.
![](https://i0.wp.com/malkinraku.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/sheep_12.jpg?resize=525%2C354&ssl=1)
We then suffocate the fire with the metal can which pulls all the oxygen from the chamber and creates a chemical reaction with the glaze.
![](https://i0.wp.com/malkinraku.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/sheep_15.jpg?w=525&ssl=1)
The result is the high metallic effect and the deep black where the clay was not glazed, from the carbon of the fire.