(#23V) - Wood Fired Vase [8.3in / 21cm Tall]

Wood Fired Vase
8.3in (21cm) Tall
5.7in (14.5cm) Wide
Weight 786g

Wood firing is an amazing process that creates a beautiful surface that can never be reproduced with exactly the same results ...it may be magic. While my style and patterns tend to be clean and crisp, I create these surfaces with the knowledge that two worlds may, and probably will, collide to create a combination that my inner nature finds simultaneously uncomforable and beautiful ...or if you're a realist you can embrace the addage that "every pot has a side" and choose your own adventure.

I threw this piece on my pottery wheel using stoneware clay. After letting the piece slowly dry to a "leather-hard" state, I refined the final shape ...once again using the pottery wheel and a trimming tool. After another period of slow-drying over several days, the piece becomes "bone dry"and then bisque-fired (a lower-temperature firing that allows me to handle the piece without easily breaking, but still pourous enough to absorb glaze). At this point, I meticulously taped the surface over many hours (sometimes days), applied a ceramic glaze by hand, and set it to dry again. The tape was removed, the edges refined as needed, and then the piece loaded into a train-style wood kiln. The firing took almost 30 hours of constant attention with a team of people feeding the kiln wood to reach a temperature of over 2,300F (1,260C). The atmospheric firing produces a wood ash glaze that coated the surface to create a beatiful, unique finish

Thank you! - Mat