More Vases

Stoneware with porcelain-like slip to brighten the colors of the glazes I use.

Shino-glazed Porcelain Serving Dish

This is a porcelain body - thrown and altered - with Shino and Temmoku glazes.

Porcelain Tumbler

Love these tumblers.

Shino Detail

Nice bowl.

Shino Tea Bowl

This tea bowl was thrown with a very white, almost translucent porcelain body. The glaze is the same Malcolm Davis shino I discussed in a previous post. You can see that the glaze is clearly influenced by the body beneath it and looks much different than those in that previous post. It is for this reason that I'm developing various slip recipes with which I can influence my glazes without having to alter the glaze itself. After all, I'd rather be able to mix one big bucket of a successful glaze, then alter its characteristics with slips and application methods, as opposed to mixing several containers of the same glaze tweaked out in different ways. That can become costly as well as wasteful (of both limited space and materials).

Shino

I'm constantly trying to push ahead with new glazes, as well as developing new alterations or application methods for older, reliable glaze formulae. Firing the cone 10 reduction kiln every week gives me the opportunity to do some R & D on a regular basis. Right now I'm working a lot with a Malcolm Davis carbon trap shino recipe. Without altering the glaze itself, I've been playing with the clay surface under the glaze, as well as application methods.

These pots are the result of my testing one of the slip (liquid clay) formulas I've been developing for specific characteristics. In this case, my objective is a wood-fired look in a gas-fired kiln. Working with a groggy stoneware claybody for the pots themselves, I'm developing slip recipes I can tweak as coatings under various glazes to influence them. Slips have been used for centuries in just this way. But, not only does the slip have to provide the intended visual or tactile influence on the glaze, it also has to expand and contract with the clay AND the glaze, lest a disparity cause some catastrophic (or even minor) event such as the glaze or slip shivering off the pot. Hence, the tweaking of various individual ingredients that play their own part in the slip forumula.

Vases

From the most recent kiln firing.

That last one can be seen unglazed in this previous posting.

New Shino Mugs

Shino glazes were speculated to have been developed in the late 16th century in Japan. The formulas we use today have to take into account the materials we have access to today, but the glaze characteristics are very similar to those historical shino glazes.

Shinos certainly aren't everyone's cup of tea. They have a more rustic, almost primitive or primal quality that evokes a sense of the materials from the earth that comprise the glaze. I also incorporate a few application techniques and other glazes that produce the results that I like.

Consider a commercial coffee mug that's glazed with a solid color. The glaze on that mug is highly refined and predictable, making it look exactly like the others. Shinos allow for variations and unique, one-of-a-kind characteristics, which is also a great way to enhance the wheelthrown, handmade nature of my pottery work.

Color

I'm working with a handful of different colored slips for this project, mixing the colors together much like paint with the knowledge that the fired color will be different than what I see here. Colors change in the kiln as the slips (or glazes) are fused or melted, depending on the ingredients of the slips or glazes in question, so I'm mixing and applying the colored slips with that in mind. The temperature will also influence the color, as well as the texture or sheen. The bisque firing takes place at around 1860 degrees, while the final firing I intend will be even hotter, meaning, the slips will deepen or become somewhat richer still.

That said, here are a few photos of the dragon platter after the application of various colored slips using a few different techniques, all of which incorporate a brush.

Once bisque fired, I'll apply several other engobes, overglazes, and washes before the final firing, after which, I'll also enhance the piece with oil paints to achieve the look I'm intending. This is a sculptural piece as opposed to a functional piece, so it's not necessary that the entire surface treatment be fired on, though the permanency of that is somewhat appealing.

More progress to come.

Developing a Slipped Surface

Slip is basically liquid clay. In this case, a specific formula of ceramic materials I've chosen for their specific properties. I've decided to color this first coat of slip with a specific ratio of  iron oxide and cobalt carbonate for a dark reddish brown once it's fired. The consistency of my slip is like buttermilk for this particular application. I'll lay on a variety of other colored slips over this, as well, not unlike the way I do an underpainting when I'm oil painting.

Dragon Platter Sculpting Complete

Photos of the completed claywork.

Now I'll begin developing the surface with colored slips.

Small Shino Serving Dish

A definite shino shiner in my book. Porcelain w/shino glaze with other glazes on top, as well as a sprinkle here and there of wood ash. Shinos are such interesting glazes, especially in reduction (gas or wood) firing. They have the potential for so much variation, both in color and texture - all in the same glaze on the same pot.

To illustrate my point about variability, the burnt-orange color inside of the dish and the whitish rim seen below are the exact same shino glaze. This is where ceramics is like jazz. Those who aren't into it won't think much about it, while those who dig it, REALLY dig it. Control freak that I am with the clay and my forms, I love letting the glaze and the fire do its thing on top.

New Vases in Progress

Two of the new vase forms I'm working on. The first photos show the bare clay pieces and the last photos show these vases covered in a white slip. I like to use a slip that's formulated not only to make glaze colors brighter (like on porcelain), but help the glazes melt out just a touch more than if they were on the bare stoneware. I'll post more photos of these once they've been glaze fired.

Lidded Casserole

With a copper red glaze and a thrown knob.

Here's the casserole prior to bisque firing:

Shino Tea Bowl

Shino glaze with other glazes on top.

Two Vases

Porcelainous stoneware with a combination of glazes.

Dragon Platter Progress

Moving along.

Dragon Platter #1

A dragon in high bas relief on a 22" platter form. The clay body is one formulated primarily for raku, heavy with grog, but I'll fire it to cone 6. (For those unfamiliar with the cone designation, it's a term describing the working temperature of the kiln firing. The stoneware and porcelain pottery I produce is fired to a hotter cone 10, whereas the cooler bisque firing  prior to glazing is cone 06.)

Here's the platter form itself on the wheel, using a bit more than 25 pounds.

The rough dragon blocked in...

More progress on the dragon. I've broken up the rim with some ornamental flourishes to give an otherwise boring, circular rim some interest in strategic places to balance out the whole composition.

After the block in, the whole sculpting process is one of simply developing and refining the forms and detail. That's the part that takes the most time, depending on how refined and detailed I choose to make the piece.

I'll post more progress soon.

Shino Pie Plate

I love this shino-glazed pie plate from the last kiln firing. Shino glazes have a rich history in pottery and this example incorporates almost every characteristic of a shino that I most admire. The darker brown glaze on top of the shino is a temmoku glaze, which has also played an extremely strong role in the history of pottery.

Latest Firing

These pots are all from the most recent glaze firing, mostly porcelain.

Small baking dishes...

My favorite mug out of this kiln load...

Another mug...

And another. My glaze selection and application methods allow for such variation that each piece - though created with the same materials - is unique. In the throwing phase, I have such a strong tendency to control the clay medium. In order to counteract that control, I incorporate glazes that allow other forces to react within the kiln, so each piece is a surprise.

Tumblers...

A teabowl with pumpkin matt and temmoku glazes...