Bowl: Large Mishima Soda

These mishima pieces are created by carving in a line design when the piece is leather hard, working a copper stain into the lines after bisque and painting glaze combinations into the shapes.  They are a tedious delight and combine my approach to watercolors with my ceramic work.

The inside of this piece was coated in a clear food-safe art resin, as the inside didn't get enough soda to fully cover the carved lines.  This preserves the unique details of the piece while making it food safe. The resin also gives the inside wonderful gloss and depth. NOT DISHWASHER SAFE due to the heat limitations of the resin.

Each soda fired piece is one-of-a-kind as atmospheric firings are unpredictable and can yield stunning results.  Soda firing takes an enormous amount of time, energy, labor and resources and is usually a community effort.  In the soda firing process, soda ash (sodium carbonate) is added to the kiln at cone 9 (2300°) and the sodium vapor combines with silica in clay to form sodium-silicate glaze.  The sodium vapor also interacts with the slips and glazes to create amazing, unpredictable results that shift around the piece.