You may think it surprising to see this tree trunk here; after all, it is a hand-thrown cylinder, like the Ghost Gums I made last year. More recently I have been making my barks from my hand-pressed moulds (see Tree trunk, black).

I really liked the grit that I’d pressed into the clay here and there, and I’d thought light touches of colour might complement it nicely. But it needed more work. I left the cylinder to wait for a more inspired moment. It waited quite some time.

The other day I decided enough was enough. I took a matte, black glaze that I knew well. and thought I’d add some local grit. Knowing from previous tests that the grit from around our studio fired nicely, I took a handful and added it to my pot of glaze. Then took my paintbrush and applied it to the base of my old cyclinder.

Being a second firing, this glaze’s colour fired to a very different colour from its usual matte black, giving me much lighter greyish tones. The parking lot grit adhered nicely.

Stoneware, fired in oxidation to cone 6. Height 12″; dia at base 3.7″

My tree trunks are becoming more varied. Since my earlier blog post Ghost Gums, which were thrown on the wheel, I have more recently been using slabs of clay, impressed on trees, as moulds. I explained the process in my post Tree Trunk, black.

I press, and tear, and force the seams together, and they don’t seem to mind. I used quite a variety of underglazes here, adding sand to the mix, aiming to create an unexpected, slightly rough, bark-like effect.

These two seem to belong together, the one nestling in the lee of the other.

Stoneware. Fired in oxidation, to Cone 6. 1. Ht: 13″, dia: 2.5″; 2. Ht: 11″, dia: 2″