I found my mojo!

Hi Marie fantastic pot, nice blue and nice form too

Jose

Superb!
su·perb
so͞oˈpərb/
adjective
adjective: superb

1.
excellent.
"She made a superb hand thrown crystalline glazed vase"
synonyms: excellent, superlative, first-rate, first-class, outstanding, remarkable, marvelous, magnificent, wonderful, splendid, admirable, noteworthy, impressive, fine, exquisite, exceptional, glorious; More
informalgreat, fantastic, fabulous, terrific, super, awesome, ace, cool, A1, brilliant, killer
" She made a superb hand thrown crystalline glazed vase"

2.
impressively splendid.
"a superb Egyptian statue of Osiris"
synonyms: magnificent, majestic, splendid, grand, impressive, imposing, awe-inspiring, breathtaking; gorgeous
"a superb diamond necklace"
antonyms: poor, inferior

Origin
mid 16th century (sense 2): from Latin superbus ‘proud, magnificent.’
Translate superb to
Use over time for: superb

Hi All - thanks for the kind words. Jim - you are cracking me up! Kuba - thanks - I've been following your work lately - well done to you too!

Jose - I used your re-throwing technique to make that lovely plump form. I am definitely going to work more with that technique - I still feel clumsy doing it, but the results are always an improvement to what I can normally do.

Koz - my old formula contained 25% 644, 12.5% 413, and 12.5% 3110, and the firing schedule was pretty simple: I'd fire fast up to 2345, hold for a few minutes, drop it to ~ 1975, and ramp down to about 1925 slowly for the crystal growth. My results were about what you see above, but with rounder crystals.

With the new batch of 644, I am using 1:1:1 of the 3 frits, and my old schedule gave me small wimpy crystals. The major changes are that I now ramp significantly more slowly to a lower top temp and a longer hold at that temp. The crystal growth range that I used to get these new crystals is quite a bit hotter than I needed with the old formula. Your idea was right on the money - more heat!!!

Cheers,
Marie

Marie:

Very interesting use of geometric ideas. Softening the usual defined shoulder of an ovoid; incorporating fluting to give definition. Creating an illusion of sections when in fact it is a monolithic form: but that is what artists do. I noticed your sculpted pieces in the gallery some time back: they caught my eye as this piece does. I especially like the silhouettes the fluting creates which further adds abstraction to the piece. Like Piper, you are moving into an artistic design that will become your "signature" in the pottery world. In addition, the mechanics of this form creates resistance to glaze flow which helps put the crystals where they need to be. Going to make an assumption and state that you have been paying close attention to glaze application and thickness. I am inclined to believe that you were projecting flow, and loaded the form accordingly to achieve crystal placement. Not sure why you feel clumsy in throwing this form: you executed it very well.

Jim: thank you for the English lesson, so now we know your real last name is Webster.

Impressive Marie: very well executed piece of art. EDIT: I also noted that you flared the neck in relative proportion to the shape-a straight neck would have looked out of place on this form. The fact that you caught that is also impressive.

Tom