Techniques, Textures and A Lot of Tape

This wide rimmed bowl was . . . an experiment.
Usually the results of my experiments are . . . questionable.
BUT THIS BOWL is . . . NOT AN EXPERIMENT ANY LONGER.
It’s a KEEP HONING YOUR CRAFT kind of bowl.
It took a long time to complete, but I don’t remember feeling any discontent.

This wide rimmed bowl is a combination of techniques, textures and a lot of tape.
Techniques, textures and a lot of tape that, quite frankly, took nine years to muster up the courage to actually utilize all of these attributes on one vessel.

OUTSIDE:
Three different textures.
Two different techniques.

This is the first pottery piece I’ve made since beginning our wheel-throwing journey almost 10 years ago, (January 2016) where I added a dark band around the circumference.
The band is dark - very dark, and I was scared to add the dark color to the apricot colored porcelain.
I thought it would be too much contrast, and ruin the delicate design.

With the checks already taped under the wide rim, which were also supposed to be light and bright to complement the peonies on the inside. I was going to use a dark check alternating with a light, bright check, and changed my mind. 

For once, changing my mind did not present problems with the final result. 

These checks consist of two different colored umbers (browns):
Mayco’s Black Walnut SW-104 and Opulence’s Petrified Wood 865. 
The two colors look almost identical. You have to view near natural light to see the subtle difference. Petrified Wood is a tad bit darker with the tiniest variegated flecks.
The butterflies are hand drawn. Rubber latex applied to the drawing lines. Glazed with two coats of Black Walnut.
Black Walnut is an absolutely stunning glaze. It does not move, when applied as a single glaze. It’s opaque, satin matte, and its tone is warm.
It’s not harsh at all, but soft to look at.
I almost chickened out (as I did before on another vessel), and played it safe.
Disappointment would have been inevitable.

The bottom portion of this bowl is striped, although the stripes are so subtle against the apricot colored clay, they’re almost unnoticeable. The glaze I used for these stripes was Opulence Sandstone 810, thinking it was more opaque. (test tiles, anyone?) The element of surprise, only this time it was a pleasant surprise.
SOMETIMES that happens!

It gives the finish a look of corduroy fabric. You can feel the texture, but it’s not evident through visual observation.

INSIDE:
The inside of this bowl is where the peony flowers live.

They are gathered around the rim, edge to edge, along with three peony buds.
When introducing a color and/or shape that is distinctive (peony buds), usually I repeat the shape, and/or color three times. Three is an uneven number, and sets the design off balance.
If there is a large number of flowers then it doesn’t matter as much. 

If there is a small number of items, that’s when I’ll use an odd number to create a more interesting composition, so the eye doesn’t try to group the items in pairs. (It might just be an artist thing, but it works, somehow).

These peonies are hand drawn and glazed with underglazes. I have TRIED A LOT of underglazes, attempting to save some money, as Amaco Underglazes are pricey.
 BUT - I spent more money trying to save money, because Amaco Velvet Underglazes are creamy, dreamy to apply. They are opaque with three (sometimes two) coats, but usually three. Skimping equals not good results. So what I do is purchase only the colors that fire well to cone 6, as well as colors that I can mix to make my own colors. For example, the color coral is made by mixing Light Red V-383 with a wee bit of Yellow V-308. To make apricot I mix Blush V-324 with a bit of Yellow V-308.
 I use their chart to determine what colors fire well to Cone 5 - 10. Amaco Velvet Underglaze page has a chart at the bottom , which shows the underglazes fired to Cone 05 / Cone 5 / Cone 10. Some colors literally fade. I purchase the ones that look good at Cone 5 and Cone 10, even though we fire to Cone 6.

Also, I do not use underglazes on the entire piece, and skip around from material to material for decorating pottery. So purchasing the pint jars would not be economical for me, with the exception of White V-360 and maybe soon, Yellow V-308.
Underglazes are beneficial, because they contain ingredients that help them “stick” or adhere to the clay surface; greenware or bisque. Colored porcelain clay does not “stick” well, and sometimes cracks if the dryness (wetness) of the pot is not spot on. However, you will not get that translucent look with underglazes as you get with colored porcelain slip. Trade offs.

Before I get COMPLETELY off track, I’ll finish this description with the interior of this wide rimmed bowl.

Another Amaco product? YES! Amaco Flux Blossom PCF-54. These flux glazes are so beautiful on the insides of our pottery. I am too chicken to use fluxes on the outside, because cleaning kiln shelves is not on my list of favorite things to do, and neither is trying to rip pots off of protective kiln cookies. Once the foot is ruined, it’s difficult for me to look past it, and move on.

Well . . . this was SUPPOSED to be just a simple description of a Peony Wide Rimmed Bowl, BUT as usual, I got carried away with “DESCRIPTION”.

There’s one more piece of pottery in this kiln load.
That description is not looking too short either.

If you'd like to purchase this wide rimmed bowl, it can be found at this link.