I was given a beautiful bisque jar with lid many years ago. Without the direct means to fire it, it languished upon my desk. That is, until I read about ollas as a means to water your garden. Any bisque jar seems to work. Buried in the garden, the jar slowly seeps water into the surrounding soil. In theory, plant roots can surround the jar and increase water movement too. Once I learned of this, I promptly planted the jar next to one of my struggle plants. I’ve three in a row and two in a terracotta pot. The ones in the pot have done really well and spread everywhere. This may be better soil or better water retention. This experiment should show me what impact better access to water has!
The problem with mystery bisque is you don’t know if it’ll stand up to stoneware firing. This one didn’t. It started as a flat circle with stem and has dropped somewhat. No matter, I had a sacrificial dish under it and it’ll still work a treat as an olla lid. The colours are Chrysanthos turquoise ug153, probably ug161 electric blue and ug201 crimson and black. I’m pretty happy with the design but it has emphasised that the black does require at least two coats for good coverage.
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