# Similarities Between Creating a Raku Ware and Life - Link: https://tomas-shejbal.cz/en/similarities-between-creating-a-raku-ware-and-life/ - Published: 2025-12-04T10:14:13+01:00 - Author: tom # Similarities Between Creating a Raku Ware and Life The first ware is more of an attempt. You prefer to smash the clay back into its original ball and start again. This time you take care. Too much. So much that the bowl's walls weaken and hold together by sheer willpower. It would be a miracle if they survived the transfer to the kiln. ![Záchraný kruk na černých kamenech s mraky v barvě olova](https://tomas-shejbal. cz/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/blog_suchy_unor.webp) _Last modified: December 4, 2025_ ## Swallow the Bitterness, Son, and Start Again When the instructor asks if you'd like to start over after the second attempt, you don't want to. You put so much into that bowl! You swallow the bitterness and within a minute you pound out a bowl that in your eyes is perfect. In the third attempt, you capitalize on previous failures. By not clinging to the perfection of the second bowl (though unusable), you create the third bowl. Without the previous failures, it wouldn't have come to be. It's not perfect, but it has a piece of authentic beauty in it. Since you created it quickly, you can make one more. The fourth, created in another minute, looks similar to the third. [⌊Collection of ceramic bowls in drying phase, various shapes and sizes, organic edges, gray clay on canvas⌉⌊Collection of ceramic bowls in drying phase, various shapes and sizes, organic edges, gray clay on canvas⌉[ _Creations of workshop participants. Your creations are the two bowls on the right neighboring the bowls with "N"._ ## Touch While working on the bowl, you realize how pleasant it is to touch the cold, wet clay. Your fingers, accustomed to pounding on a keyboard, now play with pressure, smoothing, squeezing... There's almost an intimacy to it. And practicality. Under your hands, something emerges that you'll (hopefully) actually use. You don't add any handles, feet... On the contrary, it's important that in its simplicity it fulfills its function to the maximum: that it fits into your palms and when placed on a table stands (stably). ## The Firing Kiln The resulting bowl is vulnerable, any show of force deforms it. It doesn't hold its shape. Only through passage by fire does it gain strength, simultaneously fragility. ## Loss of Control After firing, the hot vessel is placed into wet leaves and sawdust, which react with the glaze, imprinting their structure into it. If you had control over creation until now, here comes the part where you let go. Nature enters the game. The choice of glaze color has an influence, but depending on many variables, the final appearance will change. [⌊Ceramic bowls ready for glazing, Potter's Choice glaze Cone 5-6, work process in studio⌉⌊Ceramic bowls ready for glazing, Potter's Choice glaze Cone 5-6, work process in studio⌉[ Ceramic bowls ready for glazing [⌊Ceramic creation process - raw bowl and lid before firing, hand modeling of clay on work table⌉⌊Ceramic creation process - raw bowl and lid before firing, hand modeling of clay on work table⌉[ During glazing [⌊Glazed ceramic bowls after firing, color palette from black to turquoise and burgundy, handmade⌉⌊Glazed ceramic bowls after firing, color palette from black to turquoise and burgundy, handmade⌉[ Glazed ceramic bowls after firing, color palette from black to turquoise and burgundy [⌊Ceramic firing in outdoor kiln, glowing fire, vessels in flames at temperature over 1200°C⌉⌊Ceramic firing in outdoor kiln, glowing fire, vessels in flames at temperature over 1200°C⌉[ Ceramic firing in outdoor kiln at temperature over 1200°C [⌊Detail of process, removing red-hot ceramic with tongs from kiln, intense yellow and red flames⌉⌊Detail of process, removing red-hot ceramic with tongs from kiln, intense yellow and red flames⌉[ Removing red-hot ceramic with tongs from kiln ## First Tea The bowl is heavy, sits nicely in your palm. After the first tea drinking though, you know you won't use it for tea. When bringing the bowl to your lips, it bothers you that the vessel's walls are too thick (not that the instructor didn't warn about this during the workshop). A few times you even scrape your teeth against the walls. It reminds you of when you were little, standing on the porch, mom giving you a  drink and you bit through the glass... Eventually you fill the bowl with baking soda and use it for dripping essential oils ([see article](https://tomas-shejbal.cz/jedla-soda-v-domacnosti-a-esencialni-oleje/), where I discuss this use). While writing this article, you have it by the keyboard and inhale the scent of oregano. The second vessel you use for burning palo santo or sage. [⌊Handmade ceramic bowls, dark glaze, with cork coasters and pencil with inscription TRIVANDRUM.CZ on wooden table⌉⌊Handmade ceramic bowls, dark glaze, with cork coasters and pencil with inscription TRIVANDRUM.CZ on wooden table⌉[ Finished bowl (of course on the left, on the right is a purchased gaiwan) and below a Trivužka pencil [⌊Handwork with ceramic bowl, organic shape with glaze in shades of gray and black, detail in daylight⌉⌊Handwork with ceramic bowl, organic shape with glaze in shades of gray and black, detail in daylight⌉[ Detail of bowl with baking soda and essential oil in daylight ## What Actually Is This Raku Ware? What actually is this raku bowl? I won't reinvent the wheel and will copy here a quote from the invitation to the [workshop](https://www.kkpce.cz/akce/prihradek-akce/keramicky-workshop-raku-miska/) that was organized by the Regional Library in Pardubice. > "**_Creating a hand-pulled raku tea ware – a two-phase workshop led by the author > of the exhibition [Memory of Clay](https://www.kkpce.cz/akce/prihradek-akce/vystava-pamet-hliny/) > Marcela Pospíšilová_.** > _Raku ceramics is a traditional Japanese pottery firing technique that originated > in the 16th century and was originally connected with the tea ceremony. It is > characterized by the ceramic being rapidly cooled after removal from the kiln – > often placed into sawdust, leaves, straw, or water. This process creates very > striking, often irregular color effects and cracks (so-called crackle glaze) on > the surface._"