Porcelain Inclusion Cup
Description: To understand how this work is created it's important to know that when a porcelain clay body is formulated correctly and fired to a high enough temperature it becomes glass. This work is completely sealed and impervious to food and drinks because it's 100% glass. As a clay and glaze chemist - I'm always testing materials.
Grey Porcelain Stone Cup: Fired to cone 10 in a reduction kiln. 4"x 3"x 3"
Material: My porcelain stoneware body came about in my quest to create a porcelain I can sculpt with. Creating my own porcelain stoneware resulted in a porcelain body I can take in any direction with color and still have it fire up to a "glass" melt where the porcelain body has it's own glaze. Therefor, a glaze isn't necessary to have this work be food safe.
How it feels: It has a silky, rugged and smooth texture. I apply a slight polish to my finished work so it feels like a river stone that's been polished by the weather. When you put water, wine, or juice in one of my porcelain stone cups it takes on the temperature of the liquid and (either) gets cold, or warm as you hold it and drink from it. My work never leaks liquid onto a table surface because it's 100% glass.
Where my creative ideas come from: Having spent my childhood summers on the coast of Maine throwing pottery, the sensibility in my artwork always goes back to my love for collecting rocks and beach glass. My early explorations of clay are closely linked to my love for the ocean, rocks and tide pools.