There are some projects that just don't play out in real life like they do in my head!  This pot was one of those.  The customer initially wanted a bonsai pot to specific dimensions and (she thought) in a gray clay with white glaze wiped back to expose the clay in some areas.  But she wasn't quite sure so asked me to do some samples in the same clay as the pot.  So, I built the pot and half a dozen testers -kusamono pots out of the same clay to try glazes on.  

Everything went fine, pot was bisqued and set back on the shelf, testers fired in the same load were then glazed with several choices of white.

They were all ok, but not exactly right.  So, I tried a few more glazes on the testers that were left. Still not right.  Ahhh, ok, so I built another round of testers, bringing the number up to an even dozen.  Meanwhile, in the middle of all this, the customer ordered 3 more (smaller) pots but in a white clay this time with a white glaze. On the gray clay, I tried a few MORE glazes. And yep, you guessed it, still not really there, although one is close.  So, on to yet another batch of testers, using glaze variations of the one color that was close... erm, yeah.  No. Those won't work.  

SO, finally, the customer decides to go with a satin white I used on the 3 smaller pots.  

Well, all the glaze options that I have that are white... go gray on this gray clay. So I tried something a bit over the edge, and landed on my face.  In a rush to get this one done and out the door, I put a coat of  a white engobe (which is just a fancy sort of clay slip) with the satin white over without doing any testers.  Well, it did some really funky things that WILL work, for something, just not for what the customer wants.  The white engobe obviously shrunk more than the clay of the pot, and flaked off in a few areas showing the clay underneath in a pretty strange way.

So its back to the drawing board.    I'm going to remake this pot, in a white clay this time that will look nice under the satin white giving the final pot a nice slightly warm white.  Meanwhile, I'm going to take the scaly pot with all its crackly bits and put another glaze over it, possibly a brown, maybe a green, and rub it into the cracks and over the surface.  This pot SHOULD turn out looking like a wonderful antique piece with tons of character!

Sometimes people want to know how I come up with an idea.  Usually its pretty simple, sometimes it takes a bit of development.  One of the projects I've been working on is a simple bowl.  The two in the photo are a couple of prototypes I worked out, where I cut a circle out of clay and just draped them over a round ball.  Simple, but because there always ends up being texture on the inside surface from the ball, I have to work on smoothing that out without deforming the darn thing.   I wanted something different about these, so I  decided to leave the bottom rounded on these.  They're flat enough they'll be fairly stable, but I want to test them out to see if they're FUNCTIONAL.  I might have to add feet or a rim of some sort, but thats a 'we shall see!'

So, in this particular case I took and made a bowl and smoothed the OUTSIDE - which is pretty easy as the outside is exposed and the ball supports it so it doesn't deform.  That was then bisque fired, and voila, a form!  Now all I have to do is cut out my clay, drape it over the bisqued form, and smooth the outside.  The inside is already smooth because the clay is pressed against a smooth form.  The bisqued clay draws some moisture out of the slab so it sets up pretty quickly.  

I did  a batch of plate/bowls so I could get an estimate of how long it would take, so I'll be able to accurately calculate price, and these will work out in a nice sellable range!  The test batch have a texture stamped into the outside and the very lip, so I will use terra sigillata on the outside and an interesting glaze on the inside.  Later I'll do a batch and lay a leaf over the form so there will be an imprint in the finished plate!  They'll be glazed with a transparent glaze to pop the leaf.  It should be fun!

Which reminds me, its time to try them out!