This year (2023) I have returned to Slipware. I have always had a fondness for this very traditional technique of making pots. A red earthenware clay is used and the decoration is based around using a white slip (liquid clay) on a dark ground. The slip can be poured or trailed and can be drawn through sgraffito style. The work is glazed with a honey coloured or clear glaze and is then fired to 1120 deg, c. The pots that prove to be successful are usually executed quickly and with no fuss.
Below are some pots from past firings. Some of them were salted while others used Shino and/or Ash glazes. All, excepting the slipware platters at the end, were fired in a wood burning kiln to temperatures around 1300 deg.C. The platers were fired to 1120 Deg, C
My techniques try to exploit the serendipitous nature of the glazes and the wood fire. Surprises are always inevitable and not always pleasing but the good pots make up for the failures.
I want my pots to be quiet and unfussy.
A good pot will take time to insinuate itself into one’s consciousness. Often it has happened with me that I have rejected a piece fresh from the kiln only to see it in a new light with the passing of time.
When this piece emerged from my kiln some years ago I threw it into the trees around my garden. Nearly two years later I rediscovered it. I am still trying to understand why I rejected it in the first place. I think it was because I had a preconceived idea as to what it SHOULD look like. It went into an exhibition and was the first piece to sell. There will never be another like it. That is what excites me about what I do.
The Tea Room will always feature the flower vase or Hanaire. This example is from the salt kin. A slip of Manganese and Cobalt has been applied before the firing.
The water jar (Mizusashi) is a standard in the tea room. This one is Shino glazed and wood fired. The colour of Shino is very variable and is heavily influenced by the atmosphere of the firing.
The Chawan or Tea Bowl is used in the formal setting of the tea ceremony. This piece was fired in the salt kiln. A standard wood ash (Pine) glaze from my own recipe book has been used on the inside and on the rim.
Tea cup or Unomi. The Unomi would be used in an informal setting.This one was beaten with a paddle to creat the grid pattern. A Shino glaze was applied on the outside while a white Nuka type glaze made with wood ash (Apple) was used on the inside.
