I tried many different colors and textures of glazes, and finally I found the one that suits my heart best. Personally, I am quite satisfied with the effect of the finished product. I would also like to hear everyone's opinions, whether it's about the shape or color matching.
Looking forward to communicating and exchanging ideas with you all.
This piece looks pretty simple at first: a rounded vessel, a blue base, an orange-red gradient, and a small sculpture on top. But the cleaner the structure is, the less room there is to hide anything. I wanted to share one small detail that took me way more attempts than I expected: the wavy line between the blue base and the gradient above it. That line is part of the design, not a random effect from the firing. What I wanted was a curve that stayed as continuous, smooth, and clean as possible. The difficult part is that this line has to happen on a rounded surface. Applying the peel-off masking by hand, cleaning away extra glaze, and even peeling the masking off at the end all became really important steps. If any part goes a little out of control, the edge can easily become jagged, broken, or dirty-looking, and those problems only become more obvious after firing. I tried this many times just to make the result feel natural, while still being stable, controllable, and repeatable. The hard part isn’t making it work once by accident. It’s making it work again.
This piece looks pretty simple at first: a rounded vessel, a blue base, an orange-red gradient, and a small sculpture on top. But the cleaner the structure is, the less room there is to hide anything. I wanted to share one small detail that took me way more attempts than I expected: the wavy line between the blue base and the gradient above it. That line is part of the design, not a random effect from the firing. What I wanted was a curve that stayed as continuous, smooth, and clean as possible. The difficult part is that this line has to happen on a rounded surface. Applying the peel-off masking by hand, cleaning away extra glaze, and even peeling the masking off at the end all became really important steps. If any part goes a little out of control, the edge can easily become jagged, broken, or dirty-looking, and those problems only become more obvious after firing. I tried this many times just to make the result feel natural, while still being stable, controllable, and repeatable. The hard part isn’t making it work once by accident. It’s making it work again.
I finished this ceramic vessel recently and took it outside for some photos. The round body was thrown on the wheel, then trimmed, refined, sanded, and slowly adjusted by hand until the form felt smooth and soft. The little blue animal on top was shaped separately. I wanted it to feel quiet and companion-like, but not too literal as a cat or dog — more like a small presence resting on the vessel.
I keep forgetting that ceramics is not really “making an object” as much as it is politely asking clay, moisture, color, gravity, and the kiln to please cooperate for once. I’m working on these small hand-built vessels with tiny abstract animal forms on top, and every part that looks simple has found a way to be difficult: the body needs to dry evenly and not reabsorb moisture before bisque, or it can warp; the wave edge has to be clean enough or the whole color separation starts looking messy; spraying glaze is basically a game of distance, thickness, and hope; and then the firing temperature can change not only the color, but even the surface itself — something I expected to stay matte can come out looking glossy. I love ceramics. I also do not trust ceramics.