Tea Bowls

Temmoku and Blue Guinomi
3.25 x 3 and 3 x 2.75

Some time ago I mentioned I was working on pinch bowls. After I started making pinch bowls, I wanted to read all about the various types of Japanese tea bowls. I have discovered there are many different types of tea bowls and various sizes and types are used for different types of tea and for different reasons. I also looked at all the beautiful yunomi at AKAR trying to get a sense of how the bowls should be shaped and the overall proportions of the bowls. Please let me know your thoughts on the shapes, sizes, and names for tea bowls. I have so much to learn.

Above are two tea bowls, almost sake size so perhaps guinomi, from the last firing. The tops are uneven and the bowl on the right is a little tippy. The bowls are nice to hold because I can feel the pinched surface. I like the temmoku color I obtained with Soldate 60 clay. I didn't intend the blue accent to run down, but wanted only a slight dot of color.

Orange Shino and Temmoku Chawan
4.75 x 2.5 inches

The pinch bowl above is also from the first group and is tea bowl size, but wider than tall, xso chawan, hope I'm getting these correct. At first I thought my glazing experiment went awry but I'm starting to like this one. The shino is rough and the temmoku is smooth. I've heard of the saying 'shino first or suffer the curse', so I did follow that rule. Should the shino be shiny though? I wonder about re firing this one in a bisque load to see what happens. I read somewhere about re firing shinos to get better color.

Now I'm thinking about the next batch I get to glaze. On Tuesday I will load my next batch of pinch bowls into the kiln for a bisque and I think this group of pinch bowls shows improvement in my forms. I've made the bases wider so they are more stable. I've also concentrated on refining the feet, smoothing the surface, and improving the lip.


My art photography on a budget also improved some, because I finally utilized a trick I learned from Cynthia of Colorado Art Studio. I took the first two photos outside on a chair and used natural light which creates fewer shadows and glare. The glaze colors are more true to life, but the background has a blue tint, even though the backdrop had a slight grey tint to it. The next photo was taken in my studio, what a difference. My paint stool doesn't provide a very level surface and I also need one of those graduated backdrops. I'm working on it. If you haven't visited Cynthia's blog you're in for a treat, she is a technical whizz and a great potter too. Her blog has a search button on the right and I used it to find her post on photography again, it worked great.


I'll post a few more pieces from this glaze load in a day or two. I'm also working on a post on how I'll be hanging my leaf panels, so stay tuned. The flower for today isn't a rose, it's a bright and sunny ice plant flower.