SIMPLE BOTTLE

Illustrated is a simple bottle form made by salt and wood firing pioneer, Jack Troy. Thrown in porcelain with an ever so slightly bulbous mouth, the pot was paddled flat creating two larger planes flanked by pointed sides to define the form. This bottle was fired in a wood kiln some where away from the heavier ash deposits creating a soft flashing of ash overall with a few areas of build up which melted and ran down the right shoulder and by plan or serendipity, the pot is completed. All in all this is a rather eloquent bottle but it has a sense of purpose (I know, I use that word to often) where the sheer simplicity of the form has a tremendous amount to share with the viewer. I will never tire of saying  this about a really good pot but the simpler a piece is in its throwing and form the more complex it is to make it so and this is where the thousands of hours of throwing and creating make all the difference.

"To gild refined gold, to paint the lily............ is wasteful and ridiculous excess." (from King John) William Shakespeare