Lately, I’ve taken favor to working more on a few pieces rather than making many. I’ve begun hand-building coil pots and soft-slab bowls that have more intricate details. This came about for two reasons: the first being that I am terrible at throwing larger forms on the wheel, and the second because I hooked my fingernail under one of the pinholes for the wheel’s bat and tore off a good chunk of nail. Either way, I’m enjoying the hand-building process. It’s much slower, but when there’s a system in place, it moves much more quickly.
My glaze experimentation has led to several turnouts. The first conclusion is that there is either something wrong with the premixed gold overglaze, that I applied it too thick, or that it is just unsuitable for the types of pottery that I’m attempting. The second was a happy surprise. I was able to replicate a glaze combination I saw last year that produced a nice blue and sometimes teal color with gold flecks. Reitz Green over a Carbon Trap Shino is certainly a beautiful combination. Now if I could just figure out that illusive blue-green glaze that looks slightly like Mackenzie Grey that pinholes. I’ve got a few more test glazes going into the kiln that use mineral colorants and attempting to use a lot less Yellow Salt to get a nice gold tone. It will definitely be a process.
Keep following updates. I promise you it will be worth the wait.
