more ceramic bowls!

I was extremely pleased with the recent two nesting bowls in white clay; they turned out the way I had hoped! 

The interior glaze, though black is more of a midnight blue (perfect for the smaller "galaxy" bowl with its white speckles) and the exterior, where I had wiped the glaze leaving its residue in the texture lines, mostly glazed as a matt black. The gold provides exquisite highlights.

 I was so pleased, in fact, that I thought I would try three nesting bowls! I got the three bowls made from white clay slabs and clay rolled out during the weekly ceramic workshop for the "feet". However, the clay was not leather-hard enough for me to do the foot process yet, so I took the bowls home for the weekend to babysit them.

The clay I had rolled for the feet was ready to work with in a couple of days, so even though the bowls were still a bit soft, I knew I had to do them. Removing them from their pudding bowl formers was the hairy part, but one by one I persevered. I started with the smallest bowl, so that I could rest the upended medium bowl on the pudding bowl former (the rims of all the bowls are not uniform, so the clay bowl has to be raised somewhat).

This picture is of the small and medium bowls after their feet have been attached. 

 The largest bowl was the trickiest I think, as I had to use several bowl formers to raise it from the table. Please note that cling film must be draped over the formers so that the inside of the clay bowl doesn't stick to them.

For these bowls the feet were made with a flat piece of clay forming a circle. The foot is attached by scoring and applying vinegar to both the foot and the adjacent surface of the bowl. Where I have joined the foot to itself, I also scored and applied vinegar.

 The three bowls are now ready for bisque firing. In order to bring them back to the workshop, I have to wrap them carefully as they are very fragile in this pre-firing state.