Black Iron Chawan

This small tea bowl was an attempt to achieve Seto-guro aesthetics without using a hikidashi process. (Hikidashi is the process by which you pull tea bowls from the kiln once the glaze has matured, but while they are glowing orange hot. For iron-rich glazes this allows the iron to set in its black, reduced state as the glaze quickly cools and locks that reduced iron away from oxygen.). The exterior is matte, with subtle color gradations where the wood firing has interacted with the iron wash and clay body. You can also see the barest hints of blue from cobalt in the clay body on the very bottom of the foot ring. The results were good enough that this is a finishing technique I will use again in the future.