Flower plate small - Brilliant Blues

Handbuilt flower plate in white stoneware clay. Irregular shape to create the feeling of movement.

All parts of this plate is done by hand - from making the plaster flower mould that I drape the clay over, to then rolling out and cutting the clay, pressing a hand crocheted pattern into the wet, draped clay for texture underneath, and then of course the final forming, cleaning, and glazing thereof. 

The "basic" steps that I take when glazing work is that I pick 3 to 4 different coloured reactive glazes that I then paint on, 3 layers of each shade in various thicknesses. After approx 9 layers in  different thicknesses etc, I have a piece where the glazes reacted when firing, giving that feeling of movement, and also unique patterns when it pooled, broke over texture etc.

Because this plate is smaller, I felt it needed something very special to move it from just plain pretty to dramatic. For that, I added an extra glaze firing, where I put pieces of bright blue broken glass in the middle. As it melted in the kiln and then cooled down, the effect is amazing - imagine boiling, bubbling lava. Well, just blue, boiling lava! It's something very special, and very, very unique.

An iron oxide wash underneath highlights the imprinted pattern and completes the piece. I hope you love it as much as I do!

Size*:  12.5 cm diameter / 1.5 cm hight

* Due to the handmade nature of all work, size can differ up to 0.5 cm