Recently I have been using classic, hand-thrown pieces as a canvas for abstract patterns, in sets. Each piece, sufficient in itself, should contribute to a pleasing view of the whole. Each plate is small, functional, that nestles lightly in the hand. I make them to be used in everyday life: on a dining room table for condiments, or on a dresser, to hold something special. For me, the magic comes in the glazing; it’s the glazes that create something unexpected, evocative, and that catch the eye.

The initial glaze I applied by dipping the entire piece, except the foot. By the next day, with that layer dry, I applied the design by squirting a variety of thicknesses of the second orange-red glaze, which, after firing, seems to ripple over the iron-rich black glaze underneath. The very fine lines of white, shifting and moving in the melt, evoke for me white breakers at night, falling on a dark, heaving sea.

Dia: 8 cm

Porcelaneous stoneware (Frost), overlaid glazes; fired in oxidation to Cone 6