Pottery Project No. 13

This is the last of my 3 box pots. I used red clay, and the red clay affects the colors of glazes... with white clay, the color is more true; red makes it darker. Because I wanted a vibrant cobalt blue, I decided (on my very own, without consulting an instructor) to paint this box pot with one coat of opaque white glaze then 2 or 3 coats (can't remember exactly how many now) of cobalt blue glaze. My thinking was that the white layer would help to make the cobalt blue more true to color.

That was a lesson learned. The white made the cobalt blue bubble, and the result was not pretty. Kathy, the owner of Space Studios, suggested putting another coat of the blue glaze onto the pot and trying again. She explained that it could improve it or it could make it worse, but since I didn't like the pot the way it was, I felt it was worth a try.

It turned out ok. There are still bubbles and other small imperfections, but the pot looks 100% better. It was very difficult to photograph... without a flash, it was very dark, and with a flash, the glossy finish simply reflected the flash. I finally stood far away from the pot and took a photo.



This was the tallest of the 3 box pots, and it held 4 boxes of large wooden matches. That's a lot of matches!



I made it especially to hold matches, to keep on the counter so the matches are always handy to light candles... and it's so much prettier than a cardboard box of matches. Even with the bubbles and snags.

Call this one my lucky No. 13.