Illustrated
is my Oribe style glaze over a fluted stoneware teabowl based on an ancient
Roman ionic column. I find it interesting how easy it is to mix influnces and
for this bowl, as I mentioned, the form is loosely Roman, the glaze is Japanese
influenced and the foot of the bowl has its origins from the Leach/ Mackenzie
tradition of pottery making. The fluting itself became yet another mix of
influences and pieces parts as I used to have a fluting tool but somewhere
along the way I misplaced it so it is no where to be found. I decided to make
one out of a piece of sheet metal that the heating & cooling people left
behind at my request many years back, by cutting a rectagle, I then cut two
slits at the top of the strip and then using a piece of half-round molding, I
created the area which protrudes and flutes the clay. The tool didn't turn out
to be the best or most sturdy fluting tool ever made but did the job in a pinch
as I had thrown a few pieces to flute (meaning they were thick!) and needed the
tool I thought was still in an old pottery tool box. All in all, this made for
an interesting day combining influences from several sources and repurposing
some scrap material that was destined to be thrown away, hopefull the results
were worth all the perturbation.
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