WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU II

I first salt fired quite a long while ago and have always had a soft spot for salt fired pots, in fact before I even made pots I was in love with the early salt and wood fired pottery for 19^th century America, many of which were around my in-laws home. Having a fondness for salt fired pieces, beyond the obvious Hamada pieces, I have been attracted to the simple pots based on Kyoto aesthetics of Iwabuchi Shigeya which as I have mentioned before may have been our very first internet purchase back in the very late 90s.    

Illustrated is a simple Haku-Enyu mizusashi with a thick crackle style slip over a buff stoneware now darkened to a toasty brown from the firing. On the face and back of this form, shaped like a rhombus, are flora designs, resisted in the slip application which now stand in perfect contrast to the pure white texture of the overall form though there are some areas of pink blushing and subtle gohonde style spotting. The mizusashi is finished off with a crisp, tapered lip in which a classic, custom roiro-urushi lid fits to complete the form both functionally and visually. When asked recently what I liked about the rather simple and older style piece, the truth is, just about everything.