I’ve been experimenting with new surfaces for my ceramics, and I realize that a vase is a excellent canvas. The height gives me more space to capture detailed subjects, like the magnificent robot from Laputa: Castle in the Sky.
For this piece, I decided to try painting the robot along with the golden Laputa emblem using underglaze. The results before the glaze firing were absolutely stunning—the gold really popped!
However, as you can see frpm the pictures, despite the glaze firing give the vase it shininess, it also dull the color a bit. The robot figure fainted quite a bit more than I wish.
But that’s the reality of ceramics: there’s always a lesson waiting in the kiln. Was it the brand of underglaze, the type of clear glaze, or maybe just a subtle shift in the firing temperature? Maybe a bit of all? That’s the mystery I’ll be investigating before my next attempt!
Clay body : M370.
Undeglaze : Spectrum
Clear glaze : our studio’s own recipe.