Cobalt Dilemma

This is the end product of the past entry, "Conglomeration of Old and New." Cobalt on the 14" x 14" bowl.

It took me more than 7 hours putting cobalt underglaze on it. As you can see in the past blog, I paid attention to details. However, because of the glaze I chose, some fine lines and details are smudged. As the creator of this piece, I can say, "I don't mind the smudge." However, my wife would not drop the fact it looks unfinished and unintentional. (It doen't look that way to me.) It is a dilemma. For me, this obscured look has a certain character to it. I may be far more tolerant about imperfection than many other people. I see beauty in that. But, yes, I will also try to figure out how to make the bleeding of cobalt at minimal as well.

Gowanus Nite Market 12/08/'12

It was my first market experience to sell my work. I would not say I sold a bunch but I had fun with my friends and met cool people! It made me think about what I want to make for the market in near future. Here are some images of what I had at the market.

Table cloths I used on the table are from my vintage Iranian fabric collection. Some of them I have since I was in high school. Do I have a thing for Persian design? Yes. 

Yuki and I (Aki took this photo)

Inspired by Korean Celadon-Glazed Porcelain

As I look at more different variations of Meiping in Chinese (梅瓶) and Maebyong in Korean (매병) vases, I am attracted to the Korean specimen produced in Koryo or Goryeo (高麗) period (918~1392). The ones I like use iron underglaze with Celadon glazed porcelain. Some of them have almost the entire plant in a natural form depicted on the vase as if the potters made deliberate effort not to patternize the plant. The result gives the look of a very natural and care-free plant that looks as if it is swaying with the wind on the side of a vase.
Although I really like the shape of Meiping vase, I used one of my bowl, and also, cobalt is readily available to me, I decided to use that instead of iron. So, my end product looks far from Koryo Maebyong vase, hopefully I captured the essence of what originally inspired me to make this piece.