Handbuilt Bowl

A couple of months ago I started this project. I started with a bowl form and then squashed round balls of clay with my hand and mashed them together to make this bowl. I smoothed the inside, but left the outside as it was. I babied it, putting it under plastic to slowly dry out. It finally dried enough to where I felt comfortable putting it into the kiln for a bisque fire.


After it came out of the kiln I think I stared at it everyday for a month trying to figure out how I wanted to glaze it. I wanted something dramatic. But I didn't want to ruin it. I have ruined waaaay too many things with the experiments. So I set to glazing some beads. If I liked how they came out, I would like how this came out, too.


Finally I decided on this combination of colors and it took about a week of a couple of hours a day. I am a slow glazer, and I was picky about the colors not running into one another. I also stopped after the colors were laid out on it and got a piece of paper and drew the bowl from this perspective on it. Then I took colored pencils to work out the rest of the pattern. Finally I was satisfied with the pattern and put on the finishing touches. The bottom is smooth unglazed clay with my signature drawn into it.

This bowl is quite big. I will, however, be listing it in my Etsy shop, and perhaps be taking it to to a pottery show on Gallery Night with the rest of the Texas Pottery and Sculptural Guild in March. More about that show later.