Sarah bought this mug of Lisa Hammond's at Art in Clay. We should have bought a few more of her pots. This picture doesn't do it justice but it's just the thing I wanted in my salt glazed work. (Lisa actually soda fires). Anyhow her pots are amazing and I took no pictures of them while there. I guess I was too wrapped up in looking at them and handling them all. What I love about her pots is the wet, juicy nature of the slips. The colors are amazing, no two alike. They are timeless pots. Lisa makes great forms.
I feel a bit unsettled by my feelings towards all the salt glazed work I saw in England. What I mean is that I miss doing that work. Maybe I will do it again someday. I'm not sure right now, I'm just being with the feelings and seeing what happens.
With that said, I did see some amazing slipware. Doug's, of course, is my favorite. His work really reflects who he is and the materials he uses. I understand Doug's work more now that I have seen where he lives and I have experienced first hand the walks he takes around the workshop and how the environment and plant life comes into his pots.
The glaze on English slipware is often lead bisilicate or sesquisilicate. A few still use galena on the exteriors of pots. I don't think you can match these glazes. They have a depth and watery-ness that can't be gotten with frits or Gerstley borate. Of course over here in the States there's no way a potter could use these glazes and customers wouldn't buy the pots I don't think.
I really have no desire to go back to high fire at the moment though and before we left for England I had been making plans for a low fire salt firing. This would be done in my small gas kiln. I think I've talked Jen Mecca into joining me on the trial run. Today I got my mind back into that idea and I feel like I'll make up a few pots soon and see what I can do. Of course these won't be heavily salted pots, but the variation I may get seems promising.
This little cup was made by a French slipware potter who's name I didn't get. I love the casual nature of this cup. It has nice pressed finger marks around the base and I like the colors of the dots and how they've been applied by dipping the finger in the glaze. It's a pretty shiny pot in real life.
It's hard to not come away a bit shaken and full of ideas after a trip like this. I'm sure I'll be sorting it all out over the few months. This trip, along with my time at Penland has made this quite a year for me. I look forward to the pots that will come out of the kiln and where I'll be going.
