Planter: Large Marbled Soda Blush

These are a new experiment.  The base was is thrown in porcelain, then coils of marbled colored porcelain are pinched in and thrown on.  The pattern emerges clearly when the entire piece is trimmed.  All of them are different and none are quite symmetrical due to the process, but your plants won't mind. 

This one was soda fired and got the loveliest swoosh and blush from the kiln. 

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 soda also interacts with the slips and glazes to create swirling unpredictable colors that shift and change around the piece.  The marks on the bottom are from the wadding used to hold the piece up off the kiln shelf so that glaze drips won’t fuse it to the shelf.  They can leave lovely flame marks and are a telltale sign a piece is soda fired, though they don’t always happen, especially in low soda areas of the kiln.