STARTING WITH THE BONES

In a recent series of email exchanges regarding teabowls (chawan) with a fellow collector and tea person, I started thinking about getting back to basics, simplifying the form and starting with the bones without considering the glaze surface. In an effort to try to get the lines of the form right, I decided to use an Edo period Raku chawan as a jumping off point  to create a rather practical form and size bowl. I opted for a rather low foot with just enough lift to animate the bowl and create a suggestive shadow line and the piece(s) were softly thrown to allow the lip to undulate naturally and finished with a simple foot that is stable and like the bowl, simple in execution.    

Once set up, the teabowl(s) were tooled  allowing the surfaces of the clay to be dealt with by using faceting to better define the form while creating movement and decoration at the same time. The secondary purpose of the faceting is that it opens the clay exposing the texture and sand to good effect once glazed adding more dimension to the finished, fired work with the right choice of glazes. Though still quite wet, once bisque the plan is to go with the Kuro-Oribe style surfaces to accentuate the facets and vertical quality of the bowls and still give an intimate picture in to the clay texture underneath. I only threw two teabowls in this style, having other things to do and wanting to see what the fired results end up like but I think they came out the way I saw them in my mind and now need to wait and see what the end results end up like.