Collections Within My Collection: My Raku in 2026

Finding my Lakeshore Raku piece yesterday was easier than I'd anticipated - he was on the bottom shelf of the antique display cabinet in my sewing room. Here is what he looks like today, 15 years after I purchased him.

I was pleased to not see the "muddy" color that can happen in any Raku piece.

When I bought this piece, Cindy Neuhaus had let me spend some time looking at all that were available so that I could get one with color that I liked.

Like his turquoise ears,

 foreleg, and eye, (the spot over the eye reminds me of the heart over Abby's eye),

and the way turquoise popped up throughout his body.

Even under his belly, he is such a pretty piece.

But has he been fading or changing color? Here is a comparison of the piece as he is now to the photos I took in 2020.

Off side, 2020 (top), 2026 (bottom)

The lighting was different from last time

Near side, 2020 (top), 2026 (bottom)

as was the location - my office photo shelf in 2020, the top of the minis curio cabinet in the sewing room in 2026.

Foreleg, 2020 (top), 2026 (bottom)

As I compared the photos to each other,

Ears and eye, 2020 (top), 2026 (bottom)

I did not feel like the Raku piece was changing color in any discernible way.

Belly, 2020 (top), 2026 (bottom)

This is the only photo I can find of the piece from when I bought him from Cindy in 2012.

It was early afternoon and the light was bright in her room at the Clarion. Plus, our hands are covering up a lot of detail! But I wasn't thinking of documenting his appearance back then; I just wanted a picture with a friend.

I may put a note on the calendar in my phone to photograph him again, maybe annually, in the same place, time, and light as much as possible. That would help me better track any changes that could be occurring.

Or, I could just leave him be and enjoy him for what he is - a beautiful and unusual model horse that was produced by a friend.

Either way, that's a win-win.