Guinomi Cups and Other Finished Items from my Mud in Your Eye Course

I was happy to pick up 20 more finished items today, and even happier to share the experience with my fellow "potter" and good friend Mariana :

As it has already been a long day, I unwrapped and took photos of the guinomi cups (on the left side of the photo above), as well as the carved piece on the top right.  The remainder will need to wait for another night.

Some of my favourite pieces started as mistakes or vessels which were not quite the shape I was hoping for, or satisfied with.  This one started as a vessel with a wonky shape, which became a great piece for carving :

14) This piece started as 2600g of Plainsman 570 white clay, which got a bit away from me while throwing. I trimmed the base only to lighten up the sides, and stamped it.  Then I carved it into a trio of leaves swirling around to form a vase.  It is glazed in Ash Yellow, which has a beautiful range of colours, from red to brown to yellow to green.  It has a very autumn feel to it.

One of our classes focussed on making small whiskey or guinomi (sake) cups or mini tea bowls in the "wabi sabi" or natural, imperfect style.  It was fun, to start with a well thrown form, and then intentionally push it out of shape.  This post shows the pieces when first thrown.  I am pretty pleased by the results, and would make these again, even if for the therapeutic value alone.

Pleased by the Ash Yellow glaze on one of my early guinomi cups (#7 in this post), I decided to make it some matching friends (Rose - The second arrangement of these bowls/cups is for your amusement) :

This is the large bowl :

15) The bowl started as 1000g of sculptural clay.  It was hand trimmed (off the wheel) to stay with the "wabi sabi" style, and simply because it was faster than trying to stabilize and center this piece to trim the bottom on the wheel.  I like the range of colours in the Ash Yellow glaze, as it picks up the intentional ridges and bumps of the piece.

16) All the little cups, including this one, started as 250g to 300g of white clay, thrown then pushed out of shape and dented on two sides with a corner of a stick.  Which gives it a really comfortable place to grasp it.  This one is finished in Ash Yellow glaze, and then bears what can be referred to as a "gift from the kiln Gods", a blob of who knows what on one side.  This one is wheel trimmed on the bottom, and bears my stamp on the inside bottom.

17) This one was created in much the same way, but then glazed in Tam's Green, and then given a dip in Bamboo on this rim.  I think I prefer the Ash Yellow.  What do you think?

18) This little guinomi was finished (with a swirl inside :-) ), and then a groggy slip applied on the outside.  It is almost too rough to feel pleasant to hold, but the depth of the colours are really beautiful (much nicer than it appears in the photo).  It is glazed with Amber Celadon.

19) This guinomi was an experiment with texturing via roller, while it was still on the wheel.  Then it was intentionally dented on both sides.  Again, I really like the feel of that, for holding the cup.  It is glazed in Carbon Trap Shino, which I've avoided in past, since it can range from the deep orange (as you see inside the cup) to a pasty white when applied thickly.  But this time, the result was magical.  It has a beautiful range of orange to gold to green on the outside.  The gold is almost metallic.  Quite beautiful.  I hope to experiment a lot more with this Shino in future.  Again, this piece is "hand trimmed" on bottom, but I think it looks pretty good (and saved me time and frustration).

20) This one was also textured with a roller while on the wheel.  It is wheel trimmed, and I did a funky little pattern on the foot, and a bit of a swirl inside.  Here, we're back to the Amber Celadon glaze again, with good results on highlighting the textures.

21) My notes say that this sweet little cup was thrown from clay that was white, marbled with the yellow (iron oxide rich) clay, but I don't really see much if any sign of the marbling.  It was textured with a roller while on the wheel.  I think of this one as "lizard skin".  It has a cute trimmed foot and a nice swirl on the inside bottom.  Funny, but I can't seem to find my artist's stamp on this one.  Probably because I didn't want to destroy the swirl or the texture, so couldn't find a spot to stamp.  It is glazed in Khaki, then sprayed clear.  It has that funny brown to white range which I usually negatively associate with Shino.  But in this case, it works quite well with highlighting the texture, so I think it was a success.

I see from my notes that I have one last cup to pick up.  So either it is in this next firing, or I didn't recognize it on the shelves.  That happens often enough, which is one of the reasons why I keep detailed notes - and photos - of my pieces as they progress.