Wednesday, July 30, 2014

RDO

Admittedly, I am a glutton for punishment. The constant testing gets tiring at point, especially as the tests batches just don't yield anything worth pursuing. On a more positive note, the constant testing or tweaking of existing glazes can yield better, richer and deeper surfaces and at times morph into rather unexpected results. Though it is a constant love/hate relationship with testing, it is both an essential and rewarding part of making pots. The illustrated close-up is of my most current Oribe glaze that I am working on yet again. After the recent tests, I am able to get a more variegated surface with a clean iridescence about the pot. Before I glaze the piece I apply a thin iron-ash glaze to the impressed decoration and then dip it into the Oribe twice, the second coat is done rather unevenly. The result end up being a richer, deeper Oribe (RDO) and the impressions and area around them are well affected by the addition of the applied glaze. On second thought, testing isn't all bad and it keeps me moving forward.