Monday, June 15, 2020

PATCHES


Maybe a month or so ago I sent a heavily faceted teabowl to a customer out West, I had shown them three bowl and they picked the one they wanted. When the bowl arrived the customer was a bit unhappy with the piece because there was a patch of clay showing on the inside of the teabowl where I had torn through the clay while faceting the piece. In my defense I use patches to fix violently faceted pieces and the patches are applied and not totally blended in on the outside (or the inside for that matter) of the piece as to not try to hide it, it just becomes part of the process.

I offered the customer a refund but they choose one of the other two teabowls and I sent it to them and it arrived without incidence and I had them just keep the original bowl. The bowl that was chosen was also rather dramatically faceted but during the process there were no errant slices through the clay. Several weeks later an envelope came from the very same customer with a check for the patched bowl which was now up on a shelf and perhaps better understood and appreciated then when it arrived. Thanks!

Illustrated here is not the teabowl in question but is a recently "patched" teabowl where the patch is clearly hiding in plain sight. As you can see the facets are deep, violent and spontaneous which as one can imagine does lead to the occasional mishap which is easily repaired with a small piece of the recently faceted clay.

Its somewhat "golden brown" so enjoy it for what it is.