Oh Sweet Temmoku

In this most recent firing, I experimented a bit more with the carved decorations I've been doing.

I had some encouraging success glazing similar pieces with my Shino recipe, but I was a little less impressed with the results from this firing with the same glaze. It's not that I'm unhappy, but I liked the stark contrast of orange against white that I achieved last time.

Thankfully, I also tried using the studio's Temmoku on a heavily faceted piece, and loved the way the glaze "broke" along the edges. So I tried it on a few of my new carved pieces (shown to the right) and I couldn't be happier.

Interestingly, the carved diagonal lines, I realize, are reminiscent of the Jomon-style rope impression technique that was often seen in the work of Tatsuzo Shimaoka, one of my favorite potters of the Mingei movement.

Finally, the tiny ochoko shown at the bottom right was glazed with a Temmoku recipe from Malcolm Wright's website. The recipe is quite different than Mark's Temmoku (used on the other three pieces) as it incorporates wood ash, high-iron clays and relatively little pure red iron oxide. If you look very closely at the piece, you'll see variations in color and pattern in the dark, blue-black glaze. I'm now anxious to test it on a carved piece. Stay tuned...