Ely Community Festivals - Cardiff
Ely Festival is a non profit making group that organise the annual festival for the Ely community. This includes a very popular street market where artists and crafts people can rent a stall to sell their work. This was CrackpotsCAO first introduction to the festival where, throughout the day we provided a demonstration of raku firing. No photos unfortunately.
Our show at the festival was so impressive that we were invited back in following years. At the next festival, CrackpotsCAO ran a series of pottery workshops during the weeks running up to the festival with a local After School club. The pots were fired over a weekend in a specially built, 
wood fired kiln
which we constructed on a school playing field. The venue was shared with the original 
Green Road Show,
a group of travellers engaged in the promotion of non competitive games, recycling of scrap into art, as well as music, poetry and story telling. Along with the obligatory buses converted for living in there was also a mobile library which carried a wide variety of Anarchist and eco politics literature.
1986 photos showing the raku firing process.
Ellen warming pots up before they go into the hot kiln, [2] 
placing a pre heated pot in the hot kiln
reaching into the kiln to remove a red hot pot [4] 
red hot pot going to be reduced [5] 
children add the sawdust [6] 
raku process complete.
Photos showing children taking part in ceramics workshops [7] 
< Lawrence [15] 
/p>
and wood fired kiln. The firebox [16] 
and cooling down afterwards [17] 
In 1987 CrackpotsCAO visited three schools in the Ely area taking a portable raku kiln. More than 200 ready made ceramic bowls were glazed by the children in workshops. The glazing workshops were followed by raku firings in the kiln fuelled with propane gas.
Woodlands School pupils [18] 
and pots [23] 
Riverbank School children
Bishop Mostyn School
pupils and glazed pots prior to firing
and cleaning carbon from fired pots after the raku firing [35] 
and examining pots after firing [36] 
A pupil helps to clear up after the workshop [37] 
David with the gas fired raku kiln [38] 
and a copper coloured bowl [39] 
after raku firing.
