Years ago I saw this
Paleo-Indian stone axe at the Natural History Museum and I was struck by the
form and it almost sculptural elements. The form was conical and about 2/3 of
the way down the form was this highly polished channel that ran around the axe
where the handle was secured and though I didn't know it at the time, the form
and particularly the indented area was to have a large influence on my making
pots. Starting some time in the early 90's I began making this serving bowls
and bowls of all type with a rounded profile interrupted by a concave channel
running around the bowl and for the serving pieces I applied small handles that
went over the indents to echoes the overall roundness of the forms. The teabowl
pictured is one of those typical forms where the fullness of the form is broken
with the recessed channel which serves to visually break up the surface as well
as to play in to various glaze activities, with runny glazes benefiting the
most. The ash glaze over the temmoku is made from ash that I got from my
sister-in-law and once screened but not washed, this is the end result. As
anyone who works with ash can tell you, each and every batch yields varying
properties and results depending on the source and combination of woods not to
mention contaminants that went into the general mixture. I tend to test each
batch of ash that I receive for any unsatisfactory anomalies but quite frankly
it is the constant diversity that I find quite pleasing and it allows a single
glaze combination to morph from time to time and create a new look with each
new batch.
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