Friday, September 20, 2013

SIDE-EFFECTS

I threw a few stoneware teabowls recently that were faceted while still on the wheel, each then had a hand cut foot to try to compliment the form. Illustrated is one of the finished bowls that was first glazed in my Oribe glaze and then overglazed in the same glaze altered by adding iron and ash to it. The bowls were then fired on wads on their sides, in this case, you are looking at the front of the teabowl which was the top creating interesting side-effects. The base overglaze ran extensively toward the bottom, the opposite side as can be seen from the front and the interior creating a rather nice flow of effects which seem to defy gravity without an explanation added. These side-fired teabowls were a neat experience and obviously the outcome was in question and certainly unpredictable making them all the more interesting and worth making more.
"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the tests first, the answers afterward." Vernon Sanders Law (b. 1930)