Alcohol Reduction

This one stuns me.

My experience with the raku process comes entirely from Materials Science - either the summer workshops or the class at Princeton High School. That means I'm used to doing raku reduction with pots about as big as an apple or so - and we drop those into a metal can with newspaper and/or sawdust. That's about it. Sure it's a little frightening because of the fire and heat, but it's a controllable situation.

When I mention raku to art teachers, they ask about the outside pit and the fire and all sorts of stuff that exists on a scale far above what I've ever worked with. Then you get to using misted alcohol as your combustible fuel source. That's another level of awesome/frightening entirely.

Plus these folks aren't wearing long pants, close-toed shoes, heavy gloves, goggles, any of the stuff that we use in science class, so I'm a little freaked out.