THE REPURPOSED DUO

Several months back I had thrown a group of porcelain teabowls that were intended for a glaze firing, I needed 4 as an order and they were to be glazed in temmoku and ash. As poor planning would have it, though I had thrown six to cover the four needed, try as I might, two just were squeezed out of the bisque and subsequent glaze firing. For some reason or another, the bowls missed out being bisqued several more times and were actually beginning to collect dust up on my shelves so this past firing I decided to repurpose the duo and etch them with whatever design popped in to my head. Illustrated is one of the examples with a repeat design around the body of the bowl under one of my Oribe glazes which I think highlights the etching rather well.

The other bowl had a far less successful outcome from the get go; the design just never pulled together and I decided to glaze it in the saffron glaze, the end result just didn't work out well at all and it has already met the hammer, broken up in my shards box. Having already delivered the four temmoku and ash bowls, I really didn't have a lot invested in these two bowls and I do think it is important to take "risks" regardless of how small they may be and in this case I think the form, design and surface all worked to produce that "harmonious outcome" I didn't know I was looking for.