Lidded urn

Recently I threw a stoneware lidded urn that’s around 30 cm in height and that includes a basic drop lid. I glazed the urn in Dry Ginger glaze.

Dry ginger glaze is a matt glaze with a colour that ranges from off white through yellow-orange to ochre depending on the firing, position of the piece in the kiln and kiln atmosphere. The glaze also varies in colour over clay ridges and other raised features on the clay body. It also produces a pleasant speckled pattern.

The close up picture of the side of the urn below clearly shows my finger marks from the throwing process. In Japanese these marks are called 轆轤目 (rokorome) or the “look of a pottery wheel”.

Hand modelling in clay

Although most of my work is thrown on the wheel I do like to model the occasional piece of pottery. If I can draw something I tend to be able to make a fairly accurate 3D model of it.

I tend to build up a hollow infrastructure rather than work from a solid mass of clay and hollow out the centre afterwards. Although you do have to wait for the form to stiffen sufficiently to form the desired shape before decorating, this process seems more natural to me. It’s quite amazing what can be created from a humble pair of thumb pots joined to make a basic hollow egg or ball.

I still suffer from small cracks around pieces of clay that I’ve added. This is generally due to inadequate use of score and slip in my eagerness to build the piece up.

The figures below are all made from stoneware. I’ve shown a couple of pieces as they appeared before bisquq firing. I think clay looks beautiful at this stage.

• Tanuki –  Shino on buff stoneware clay
• Dragon –  Green Celadon on buff stoneware clay with iron oxide pigment painted on and rubbed off the bisqueware prior to glazing
• Elephant – Ash glaze on buff stoneware clay with red, black and white slip decoration.
• Nasone (venetian mask) – Ash glaze on buff stoneware clay with red, black and white slip decoration.

Gallery of hand modelled figures

Ceramics and flowers

My wife used to work as a florist and enjoys making the garden bloom with flowers.

Have a look at the gallery below for some of my thrown and coil pots that are being used in the garden.

Tenmoku pieces

Another set of stoneware thrown pieces with a base glaze of tenmoku.

A vase made with Chinese Chun that produces a pleasant light blue colour.

A rice husk chun bowl showing how the glaze runs on the inside surface.

A close up of the way rice husk chun creates a light and dark pattern as it runs over the slippery tenmoku glaze underneath.

Tenmoku vase

I like the random, uncontrollable but undeniably beautiful effect produced when chun glazes are added over tenmoku on stoneware pieces. These two vases have been made with Rice Husk chun which produces white/pale yellow waves and runs.

A simple vase.

A vase with a more pronounced lip and a bare section of unglazed clay at the base.