SIMPLE SANDY SURFACE

Illustrated is a rather simple sandy surface on a  teabowl made using my white stoneware with subtle facets created around the bowl. As you can see, once the foot is tooled the last part of the process involves the rasp and creating simple, not overly obvious facets around the form while the important step is to open up the texture of the clay and let much of the sand show creating a visual and textural surface. Though a simple bowl, simple technique and simple approach in the end usually they are not as simple as each constituent part would leave you to believe.   

As you can imagine the next step beside the bisque is using a transparent or translucent glaze surface over the piece and I doubt it would come as any shock if I said I was thinking about using either Oribe or Kuro-oribe for the job. Though many of my choices may be predictable with the right application of the secondary and tertiary and all that sandy texture, the outcome is usually a bit up in the air allowing for a group of teabowls to emerge, each one with its own distinct voice and appearance. Simple, right, though simple does go a long way.