Saturday 6 June 2020

Back to blue

I've spent a lot of time working with green overglaze these last few months. This was partly driven by the need to round out my skills with regards to my 12th night Arts and Sciences entry. While the green has been fun and I've enjoyed the new design elements, I must admit I find blue much more appealing. This piece was thrown during Covid19 lockdown times in my little basement workshop. I used PB103 white clay so I could avoid adding the complication of white underglaze. This piece has been fired to stoneware.


This piece was inspired by my previous arbarello collaboration piece. I rather liked the background fill and the use of white elements to balance the darker blue. I used 'Colbalt blue' underglaze for this one which is a much deeper, and delightfully dark blue. I do prefer the lighter Electric Blue I think but this is still pleasing.


Instead of copying a pattern direct, I thought I'd combine multiple design elements and continue my 'balance' project. I was largly inspired by the above asymmetric vine design. The image isn't amazing quality and remains quite fuzzy even when zoomed in which is unfortunate. I took inspiration from the vines as well as the white / black / blue balance. I've tried a number of versions of this which I'll post in future blog updates.


The design is symmetrical with a 1/2 division of the cup. after layering the underglaze, I dipped it in clear glaze. Once dry, I then carefully rubbed glaze with my finger tips to ensure no air bubbles had formed. This seems to have worked really well as this cup has excellent gloss coverage. I am really happy with how this cup turned out!


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