Wednesday, August 2, 2023

MOMENTARY ACHEIVEMENT

Illustrated is a comb textured teabowl that I made a while back finally fired and ready for its close up. The teabowl was thrown out of stoneware and had white slip brushed over the surface and then the highpoints removed to expose the clay again. The pot was glazed in a soda blue and has been sitting around while I went through two terra cotta cycles before getting back to a kiln load of stoneware, white stoneware and porcelain. I wasn't quite sure exactly how this would play out but what did surprise me is the where the combing is at its widest, the glaze color is what I normally expect from the glaze and where the channels are smaller and narrower, the color came out much richer and deeper. I should mention that the glaze is not thicker top to bottom though it does run a slight amount and perhaps this is accounting for the different from the top lobe to the bottom one. So here is the good news that I take away from this bowl; the glaze didn't run off the pot, the glaze worked well within the channels and didn't crawl or pinhole and honestly I like the difference in color value from the top and bottom and lastly given how some other recent tests have gone, I have absolutely nothing to complain about with this teabowl, the glaze and the surface overall. I'll take that as the momentary achievement that it is!