My New Favorite Clay...

The red rough clay from Shigaraki prefecture (red #104) is slowly growing to be my favorite clay to use. The wonderful rich red color and gold like stones and sand inside create wonderful pieces and add interest to any glaze that's used on it. Look at some examples below...

***Click on images for larger view


In this small plate series you can see how the red clay makes the green glaze much more appealing and gives it great texture. The gold stones inside this clay melt with the glaze and create new color. The result is a very earthy and visually pleasing. I personally love it.
Below you can see how the glaze looks with a normal red clay from Shigaraki prefecture. This clay is the smooth version of red #104, very similar color but minus the stones. The results are quite different.


Below are some other red#104 clay plates with different glazes. Look closely at all the different colors. With some of the thicker glazes the stones don't stand out as much.

Like I wrote in my past post, I am making clay and glaze samples. When those are complete you will really be able to tell what a difference each clay makes with each glaze. In the meantime I hope this helps!