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Slow-cooling shino glazes

Here are two photos of cups glazed with the same combination of Shinos. One cup was slow-cooled and the other was allowed to cool naturally. For the slow-cooled cup, the kiln was turned back on during the cooling process to hold the kiln temperature at around 1030C for approximately 5 hours. The other cup simply cooled at the natural speed of the kiln (which is rather fast, less than a day for it to cool completely).

The first cup with hues of brown, pink, red and metallic textures is the slow-cooled cup. The naturally cooled cup has quite clear red and white (red where the shino was applied thin and white where it is thick). Where the shino was applied thin, the slow-cooled cup is rather brown/red with a metallic sheen while the other cup shows a rather even reddish orange color. I believe that this difference is more due to the temperature hold having dropped at one point to around 980C, which I’ve noticed encourages a browner/metallic surface when shino is thin. If I really hold at around 1030C for the entire cooling process, then the thin shino also remains quite red (but I have yet to confirm this theory).

The most interesting differences appear where the shino is thick. On the slow cooled cup, we can see that iron was able to migrate* to the surface of the cup and create hues of pink/orange/brown with metallic luster (the metallic luster is hard to see in the photo). On the naturally cooled cup, the thick shino remains rather white and creamy (in the photo, the white is a little blown out, but it is still a rather creamy white).

*”migrate to the surface” is probably an incorrect term. Rather it would seem that when holding a glaze at a certain temperature, you give time for the metallic oxides already present to align in a structured way thus changing their crystallization (and color and texture). I’m still learning about what really happens on a chemical/physical level. Please send me message if you’d like to share information about what happens during a glaze’s cooling process!

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Getting Intimate with Clay

Working with clay is an intimate experience, a sensual relationship, an adventure of the senses. I make with my hands, my body, my breath and the ground under my feet—rooted. Throwing pots on the wheel can be both a deeply personal moment and a creative act offered into space.

Entering the workshop

The cool earth caresses my feet. The humid air of drying pots whispers against my skin. The birds sing. I pause – breathing in, breathing out – and tune into the rhythm of my body. An idea flickers, a spark of motivation. I cup it lightly, ready to let go if the moment leads somewhere else.

My hands meet cool, wet clay—I never know what will come. Each act of creation is a step into the unknown. Sometimes the process flows seamlessly; other times, it slips into chaos. But I am rooted to the ground, leaving my fingers free to explore and play the unknown.

Beginnings 

Creation is a precise moment—a dot in space and time from which form emerges. The challenge lies in that instant, feeling it, trusting it and following it through no matter where it leads. It’s a path of ease, a balancing act in which fingers move with intent and clarity. 

The process is not always kind. Pieces collapse. Fingers and tools rip apart a pot. Yet the adventure only ends when clay is cut from the wheel. Although imagination is always present, nourishing a world of possibilities, my practice is guided by instinct. I love the feeling of pushing clay to its limit and seeing what will happen. 

A creative spiral

I most often throw series of 10-20 pots. While many potters sketch their ideas on paper, I’ve never felt comfortable with a pen in hand. Instead, the first couple of pots are my sketches: re-iterations of an emerging idea until something clicks. At this moment, I know I’m invited to repeat and explore a given form, design, texture and/or movement until the end of a series. With practice, the end of one series is often the starting point for a new series. And I continue to dance around a theme until the end bell rings. 

The end is simple 

No more clay on the wheel. Tired hands. A loss of concentration. It’s time for a break: a cup of tea, a walk in nature, or simply, lunch. 

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Tea #2

Sitting still as a bee,
Drinking delicious cold tea.

A sunny day rains and shines,
Making sure freedom is mine.

The bird sings a broken heart,
Spring comes like a dying art.

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Deep blue

I sit there looking at you,
suddenly everything goes blue.

My heart drops to the dumps,
but I’ve learned to ride the bumps.

Spiraling’round the funnel,
I see light at the end of the tunnel.

You spit me back out,
with barely a breath left throughout.

Sputtering at the blue sky,
I feel a weird high.

Without a thought for me,
you roll on free.

What just happened?
Was this not the end?

Everything goes blank,
like a fish out of its tank.

Again, I sit looking at you,
wondering when it will all turn blue.

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On work #2

Work is done and soon forgotten.
Living on, never downtrodden.

Looking out, there are no doors,
Simple space and open floors.

Rain or shine, blue or gray,
There is no single way.

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Red, white & blue

Front to back, through and through I’m a hack.
Looking at this track, I no longer know what’s a fact.

In and out, everything makes me want to shout.
Skinned like a trout, I’m getting ready for the next bout.

Red, white and blue, always gave me such a fright.
Like a child in the night, I’m blind without any insight.

Lacking humility, I suffer the woes of absent tranquility.
Jump’in up and down, my tantrum is crowned with a frown.

This deep rent in my heart, what is the spark of this discontent?