SMALL BATCH

Given the current state of affairs I have had some extra time to work on ideas, test "stuff" and generally just get in trouble. In the past couple of months I have been playing with three new clay bodies that I am working on, each made up as 10lbs of dry material and then made into a slurry, dried on plaster slabs and then wedged thoroughly. One clay body I tested is basically a 60/40 mix of a stoneware and porcelain which is pictured suited up nicely in what I am still erroneously referring to as Kuro-Oribe, after all, everything needs a name. This clay is my second test body, has an off-white color on its own and like the first test body throws rather nicely and tools well even with the coarse additions to the body and it didn't warp in the bisque or glaze firing which is a plus. As you can see I threw a simple teabowl form where I used a metal rib to open up the grain of the clay a bit showing up quite well under the glaze which fits rather well and has a nice overall appearance, looking a bit different than the stoneware or porcelain clays by themselves. The other clay bodies are a new "small batch" porcelain and a somewhat rugged stoneware both of which are showing promise, more as I get out more results.