At this most recent raku workshop I attended in late October 2025, I experimented with Mason stains in several ways. For the obvara, I did two burnished pieces with very light mason stains. I think it mostly worked well, but the obvara carbonization had a somewhat difficult time really gripping onto the surface, so I think next time I might not burnish and see how that goes.
Here is the first ceramic piece, a burnished oval bowl I did a large polka dot pastel pattern on with small amounts of teal and chartreuse Mason stains mixed into terra sigillata:
Here is the second, a burnished round bowl with a small amount of teal Mason stain mixed into terra sigillata:
