Bowls, cups and plates...oh my!

I made some simple bowls and plates to add to my home use collection. I used white and red shigaraki clay for all of the pieces.

The picture on the left here has a tea cup far left with white shigaraki clay, blue lines hand painted on the side with a clear glaze over the entire piece. The two small bowls next to it are red shigaraki clay with blue and red lines with a clear
glaze. Although the same colors of blue and red with a clear glaze were used on the pieces you can see the huge difference the clay type has in the overall color and ambiance. The white clay obviously lets the color come out better, while the red clay is more subdued and earthy. This time I used a clear glaze to let the characteristics of the clay show through but the same principle applies to any color of glaze, with the exception of very dark colors like deep browns, blacks and purples. If I had used say a green glaze instead of clear on these pieces, the white clay piece would have a clear and bright color while the red clay would have a quiet green with brown undertones.

Here is an under view of the pieces. On the two bowls you can see I made two different glaze patterns. The bowl on the right has glazing all over the bowl, except the bottom rim that would touch the table surface. On the bowl on the bottom left I made the glaze line higher, so there is no glaze inside or around the bottom rim. There isn't much difference technically between making a higher or lower glaze line except letting more of the natural clay show. It's all about personal taste.














Here I have one more red shigaraki bowl like the others above, 3 small tsukemono plates and one otsumami plate.

The 3 small tsukemono plates are from another experiment series I have just completed. These are 3 out of 14, OF firing process. They are made from red shigaraki 104 clay with modern style etchings on the top and a clear glaze. (Notice how much darker the red 104 is compared to the regular red) They are very small, about the size of a coaster. the other 11 plates were in RF firing and have different colors, but same etchings. (Those pictures will be uploaded soon)
The lined plate on the far right is a mixture of various left over clays (shigaraki mix) with a clear glaze and blue painted lines. I like this one a lot and Ill try white shigaraki clay, blue paint and a white glaze for my next experiment. I really like the traditional Japanese blue and white bowls and tea cups, but I'd like to add a modern and hand made twist to them. Heres hoping my next batch of experiments will be to my liking!