No refunds are issued for normal circumstances. Fees do not include individual art supplies unless noted. With the new equipment, students of CTAC's Community School of the Arts have the unusual opportunity to experiment with this firing technique. In the raku process, glazed pottery is heated to a temperature of nearly 2,000 degrees then plunged into a trash can filled with wood shavings, straw and newspaper, resulting in a flash fire. When the top is put on the trash can, the blaze turns to a smolder.
Smoke fills the container thus reducing the amount of oxygen available inside.
The combination of smoke and lack of oxygen produce unique glazing and coloration effects in the pots. In addition, the Arts Center recently acquired a slab roller and an extruder. Castiglione has headed the pottery studio at CTAC for nearly a year, bringing a unique set of skills to the position. He has rebuilt the arts center's kilns and led hundreds of adults and children to explore the basics of pinch, slab, coil, extruded, and wheel-thrown pottery.