WRONG HAND, WRONG CLAY

When it comes to slip trailing, the bulk of my work is done on terra cotta using black and white slips, though other colors do occasionally come in to play. It has been a rather long time since I have slip trailed either stoneware or porcelain but over the past year of so I have been sneaking a few pieces in to the kiln now and again as both tests for glaze surfaces but also working out various design or decoration ideas. The illustrated bowl was fired recently and was thrown out of stoneware, black slipped and then had white slip trailed over the surface. Now here is where the difference comes to play, I am a natural left hander and write, paint and slip trail with my left hand, in this particular set of bowls I used my right hand to create a more spontaneous and less controlled look and if nothing else I think I succeeded in what I was after. I used a combination of a clear glaze with a very thin layer of saffron iron over the piece to get this slightly amber and runny looking appearance. I like the motion of the slip and surface working together and think that this isn't too bad an attempt using the wrong hand and the wrong clay and temperature range. There is another teabowl from this slight deviation which is firing now and hopefully it will turn out as well though it is quite a bit difference in approach and influences. Time and temperature will tell.