Monthly Archives: November 2021

Swirling depths

Slab-built, with a dark black clay, finished on the wheel; the rim cut away to firm waves.

To provide a variety of dark black tones, darker than the grey that the black clay would become once fired, I dipped a small, rough sponge in black underglaze, and swept it up the length of the vase, several times. I wanted to create a sense of moving waters, and swirling vegetation in the depths. The first step was pouring a thin layer of a matte, olive-grey glaze, from the top, and down, holding the cylinder at a sharp angle. This glaze, when applied thin over the dark surface, turns ashen, a lovely surface over which to squirt streams of yellow slip, tinged with rutile, sunlight reflecting off the swirling kelp. A few quick strokes of black, high-grit glaze applied with a hard-bristled brush, further break up the surface.

Stoneware, fired to cone 6, in oxidation.

Paired cylinders: Bark

So many possibilities, as I plan my cylinders. Shall I use porcelain, or black clay? Shall I create a highly-textured surface? Shall I forcefully distort the surface? Shall I use slips? Squirt the slips, adding grit, frit, sand, rust? Shall I throw the slip on, pour it on, blow it on? Make it so thick that it cracks in the firing? When, while the slip is still damp? Or wait till tomorrow? Slab built, then finished on the wheel.

For the pieces shown below, I shaped them using slabs of white clay, keeping the neck wide enough for my hand to reach down inside, allowing me to finish them off on the wheel. Did I use porcelain? No. But to enhance its whiteness, I coated the leather-hard piece in a porcelaneous slip (Frost). Did I create a highly-textured surface? No. But using a hard-bristle, broad paint brush, I roughed the surface by adding heavy grit to the dark glaze. Once bisque fired, I applied a few quick free-hand squirts of a yellow/orange slip. Finally, using an atomiser, I applied a fine layer of a glossy, transparent glaze over the remaining white surfaces.

Stoneware, fired to cone 6, in oxidation. Height: 31 cm; Dia. at base: 8.5 cm.