Photos: Rick May.
Some people, including a few for whom I hold
considerable reverence, find plain whiteware
boring. That's okay -- I don't insist on anyone liking
it, as long as they don't try to get me to stop making
the stuff. (Frankly, there are times when I find it
boring myself, though they are few and far between.)
The clear glaze I use on my whiteware has a pleasant
warm feeling to it, the pieces are decently translucent,
and if the shape is good enough, that's enough for
me. Unfortunately, it is not possible to give you any
real sense of what I mean when I say a glaze has a warm
feeling to it; your best bet, unless you can drop by and
handle some things, is to notice what pottery is like
when you actually hold it in your hands. You'll find
that there is more than just the physical fact of
texture. My first clear glaze was clear and glossy and
rock hard. It felt terrible, and I threw it out. The
clear I'm currently using is clear and glossy and rock
hard, and it feels very nice. So go figure.
Here are photos of two pieces I made a while ago, fairly early in my career as a student potter (the throwing is maybe less than optimal). They are the best examples I currently have; but I'm working on it, and reporting results in my journal. You should just barely be able to see the color of my fingers through the porcelain in the third (bottom) image.
Bowl: collection of Gabi and Eduard Kosinka. (I am embarrassed to say that I don't remember who got the cup. If I find the information on it, I will fix this.)
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Last modified: Fri Oct 6 15:31:23 PDT 2000