Getting it Just Right...for Now!

Thought I would post some pots of my last few batches. These pots represent the culmination of months of testing and retesting to get just the right color for an unglazed container.  

If you are someone steeped in the art of bonsai, it may come as no surprise to you that the best way to dress up a pine, juniper or other tree of the deciduous variety is to choose an unglazed container.  Unglazed bonsai pots imbue an addition of subtlety and character that the glazed pot can overstep.  Color in a glaze, even one somewhat matt and soft, will draw too much visual weight from the viewer, and away from the tree.  Since pines and juniper don't have any colorful displays such as blossoms to balance out a vivid glazed pot, it is just more visually balanced.

The Japanese potters of Tokoname have been making beautiful unglazed pots with the warm brown and sienna tones most gracious for trees of this variety. The color comes from the clay that they use to make their pots, and many a bonsai artist has chosen these pots to help achieve a well balanced composition. Rich earthy hues are well matched to the bark of a pine, or even the uncovered sinuous undulations in a jin. 

Recently I have made it one of my goals to attempt to match this color with oxides and washes, and it has worked pretty well, for now.  Matched with the right temperature in the firing process, and applied in the correct manner on the right clay body and it works. 

Thank you for taking time to look at my pottery. If you have any comments, bonsai related or otherwise, please drop me a line...

Cheers