Taiko-Earth Pottery

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on May 09, 2009

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A medium sized shohin with grayish blue glaze and an arched bottom profile.

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Just for the taste of it...

For those of us who like to experiment in pottery, I can think of nothing more alluring than that which can be created by textural effects. Gouges, cracks and crevices, filled with colored oxide washes, can really add a lot of character to a bonsai container. But it is not this alone that I am happy with, rather, the way in which it is done... If you like the natural, unbridled use of the patterning in the example below, you may know what I am eluding to. There is a lot of subtle color variation in this pot. Some repeated patterning, but nothing too fussy. Here is the other side: I don't feel as if I have mastered this technique. Instead, I consider myself inspired to keep looking for nuances to exemplify, patterns to express. This smaller example has a some intentional marks added on the right side of the pot that I placed to in increase the wabi sabi look... There are several tree species that have this pot. For my taste, bucida spinosa ...

Fine tuned firings

This post is a shout out to my clay buds. For all of us that have gone down the road of uncertainty, from firing in a SAFE electric kiln to jumping in full steam ahead into the world of atmospheric/gas, we know it is a challenging uphill climb. I knew that I was going to be flying blind at times, but I also knew through previous experiences that the harder the challenge, the higher the rate of failure, the more I would be able to learn and grow. So this post is about the trials and tribulations of firing one of the most troublesome kilns on the market today, the Olympic Torchbearer kiln. What problems did I have you may ask? Well, overfiring, underfiring, and not being able to monitior things like gas pressure and see witness cones were things that I fixed early on. I added a gas gauge to measure LP pressure and fine tuned placement of kiln packs for optimal viewing. Other more serious (and apparently common with this type of kiln) problems revealed themselves. Getting ...

Waves of Expression?

I absolutely LOVE learning and developing new techniques. This last month I have been doing some experimenting on a new method that I find rather addicting. It creates lines and patterns and gives great highlight to form and provides areas for holding glaze. I tried it on several pots, simple accents, kusamono and some bonsai containers in glazed and unglazed pieces. Here is another example in a smallish round, well suited for kusamono.... I would like to developing this style a bit more, especially for kusamono forms. For a bonsai pot, I tried some unglazed forms, like this one best suited for a rugged pine. Time will tell if the bonsai crowd enjoys this particular surface treatment, but in the meantime, at least I can have some fun, keepin' it fresh! Cheers!

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