As a young potter, I was inspired by pilgrim flasks, first encountering those made by Bernard Leach. Searching for the seeds of this idea, I found resonant historical Korean and Chinese forms. My training had focused on bowls as the basis of throwing, so I thought of these shapes as the combination of two bowls turned on edge with an added rim and foot. As I began wood firing, I was attracted to broad, shallow surfaces as a canvas for ash deposits. Though not as spherical as a traditional Korean moon jar, I have called my flatter forms “moon vases” for their moon-like allusions. We built our anagama in 1996 and for 25 years I have made these shapes, altering the feeling by exploring variations in scale, texture, rims, edges, and feet. Each firing has its own nuances, and each series of moon vases has its own focus.
I use softly rounded bisque forms to construct these moon vases. Varying in size the inside diameters range from 10½ to 19 inches (27 to 48 cm). Many were originally made by draping and forming slabs in different size metal woks purchased from a commercial kitchen supplier. The advantage of a bisque form is that it is strong, absorbent, and you can cut against it without leaving marks. I currently make the moon vase with two slabs and a coiled attachment that joins them together. Because these are mostly for a long, hot wood firing, I work fairly thick.
In this article, I use two similar 10½-inch (26.7-cm) bisque forms, one for each side of the vase. I also use different-sized metal rings used for support or as cutting guides. These are cake rings (used for baking cakes) also purchased from a commercial restaurant supplier. I have a full set ranging from 1 to 15 inches (2.5–38 cm). They are very handy as supports, cutters, or guides.
Creating the Initial Form
Begin by wedging 4½ pounds (2 kg) of clay. Roll it into a roughly round shape about ⅜ inch (1 cm) thick and larger than the form. Lay the slab in the bisque form and gently press it with one hand while lifting the slab with the other so that it becomes pressed down to fill the curve. Work your way around the circle until the slab follows and fills the form. Smooth and compress the slab with a rib. Next, take an 11-inch (28-cm) round cake ring, center it on the clay, and use it as a guide as to where to cut the clay (1). If you don’t have a cake ring, improvise to cut out the circle. Remove the excess clay.
Roll a 3-foot-long (0.9-m) coil roughly ¾–1 inch (2–2.5 cm) thick. Use thick coils because much of the initial thickness gets cut away during later texturing. I roll it on a piece of cement backer board, which is slightly absorbent and not sticky. Before you lay the first coil down, score and slip just the slab at the outside edge. Press the first coil layer onto the top of the slab edge (2). Start with your thumb under the protruding slab to bring the outside clay up. Simultaneously rotate your wrist and press down on the coil with your index and middle finger. Having the slab just hanging over the outside edge of the form allows the slab to be fully blended to the first coil. That is why the 11-inch (28-cm) ring is used on the smaller 10½-inch (27-cm) form. Next, blend the inside bottom of the coil to the slab using your fingers or a rib.
Roll out another 3-foot (0.9-m) coil and attach it to the first coil the same way—first, bring the outside clay up all the way around (3). Blend the inside bottom of the added coil to the previous coil. Use a needle tool to cut off the top of the last coil so you have an even, flat surface ready to be joined (4), score the rim while on the wheel, but set aside and wait to slip until ready to attach the two halves.
Repeat what you’ve done to make the other half of the moon vase. Their sizes should match. Once you have the two sides, let them stiffen up a bit. About 30 minutes is often plenty of time; the slabs will be stiffer, but the edges will still be soft enough to be attached. Score and slip each half, then put the two halves together (5, 6). Roll out a thinner 3-foot (0.9-m) coil, flatten it, then score and slip it. Score the joint line on the vase, then add and blend the flattened coil over the seam (7). The purpose of the coil on the seam is to avoid splitting the vase on the joint as you compress and stretch the vase from the inside. When you are finished blending the side coil, hold the vase upright. Gently rotate the vase upright, then press it into the bisque form to compress and shape the sides (8).
Altering the Form
The four coils (two added to each half) have provided enough width so that when I cut out the opening, I can maneuver my hand inside the vase. Depending on the size of your hand and the size of your coils, you may need more than four. All the coils should add up to a width broad enough that you can get your hand inside once the two sides are put together and the top opening is cut. Alternatively, you might choose to make a bigger opening. You are aiming for a roughed-out shape that is thick and can be freely handled.
After the joined form has stiffened up to a soft leather hard cut the top opening (9). Openings can be circular, oval, square, singular, or in multiples. Working from inside the vase, blend the coils to secure the joint (10). Adjust the shape as desired using a paddle (11) or other available tools, pressing and stretching from the inside as well. The edge walls are rounded so the feeling of the walls can smoothly extend onto part of the original surface of the slab.
Once the piece stiffens to more of a true leather hard, use the cake rings to draw reference guides for shaping and texturing the sides (12, 13). I use a flexible, old crosscut saw to create a wild quality of faceting (14, 15). I am imagining the clay as if it just appeared out of the ground or as stone with rough geologic edges. There is a fruitful tension between using a large, rough tool and a sense of finesse to bring life to the vase.
Compress the sides by rotating and tapping the vase over the bisque form (16). Examine the vase from all sides to determine if you are done texturing and cut and alter more if needed.
Finishing the Vase
After you have roughed in the desired surface, score and slip the bottom and coil on a thick foot, so there is leeway to cut freely to achieve your desired texture (17). Make any final adjustments to the mouth of the vase (18). Once the vase is complete, dry it slowly, first under plastic for a day or two and then under a towel to keep the edges from drying too quickly.
When fired in the anagama, I stack the unglazed moon vases on their sides supported by a circle of wads. On the top, a single cookie-shaped wad supports a small cup, which interrupts the flow of flame and ash, thus adjusting the pattern of the natural-ash glaze.
This form is an opportunity to create your own architecture. The recipe is two bowls put on edge with an opening and a foot. Each series is an occasion to play with edges, openings, and feet. How big are the bowls, how deep is the curve? What does the side surface look like; what size and shape are the foot and the rim? Combining all of these components creates the expressive and poetic nature of the form. I always find it helpful to work in series. Get familiar with the process first, then build on your experience and experiment to create your own vocabulary.
Catherine White lives and works in Warrenton, Virginia. She has an MFA in ceramics, studied painting in Aix-en-Provence, France, and taught ceramics at Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington, DC. She has had commissions for state gifts from President Obama and Michelle Obama, and is represented in both the Renwick and Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian. Since 1982 she has had yearly commissions from Omen-Azen, a Japanese restaurant in New York City. To see more, visit www.catherinewhite.comor on Instagram @artistpotter.
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As a young potter, I was inspired by pilgrim flasks, first encountering those made by Bernard Leach. Searching for the seeds of this idea, I found resonant historical Korean and Chinese forms. My training had focused on bowls as the basis of throwing, so I thought of these shapes as the combination of two bowls turned on edge with an added rim and foot. As I began wood firing, I was attracted to broad, shallow surfaces as a canvas for ash deposits. Though not as spherical as a traditional Korean moon jar, I have called my flatter forms “moon vases” for their moon-like allusions. We built our anagama in 1996 and for 25 years I have made these shapes, altering the feeling by exploring variations in scale, texture, rims, edges, and feet. Each firing has its own nuances, and each series of moon vases has its own focus.
I use softly rounded bisque forms to construct these moon vases. Varying in size the inside diameters range from 10½ to 19 inches (27 to 48 cm). Many were originally made by draping and forming slabs in different size metal woks purchased from a commercial kitchen supplier. The advantage of a bisque form is that it is strong, absorbent, and you can cut against it without leaving marks. I currently make the moon vase with two slabs and a coiled attachment that joins them together. Because these are mostly for a long, hot wood firing, I work fairly thick.
In this article, I use two similar 10½-inch (26.7-cm) bisque forms, one for each side of the vase. I also use different-sized metal rings used for support or as cutting guides. These are cake rings (used for baking cakes) also purchased from a commercial restaurant supplier. I have a full set ranging from 1 to 15 inches (2.5–38 cm). They are very handy as supports, cutters, or guides.
Creating the Initial Form
Begin by wedging 4½ pounds (2 kg) of clay. Roll it into a roughly round shape about ⅜ inch (1 cm) thick and larger than the form. Lay the slab in the bisque form and gently press it with one hand while lifting the slab with the other so that it becomes pressed down to fill the curve. Work your way around the circle until the slab follows and fills the form. Smooth and compress the slab with a rib. Next, take an 11-inch (28-cm) round cake ring, center it on the clay, and use it as a guide as to where to cut the clay (1). If you don’t have a cake ring, improvise to cut out the circle. Remove the excess clay.
Roll a 3-foot-long (0.9-m) coil roughly ¾–1 inch (2–2.5 cm) thick. Use thick coils because much of the initial thickness gets cut away during later texturing. I roll it on a piece of cement backer board, which is slightly absorbent and not sticky. Before you lay the first coil down, score and slip just the slab at the outside edge. Press the first coil layer onto the top of the slab edge (2). Start with your thumb under the protruding slab to bring the outside clay up. Simultaneously rotate your wrist and press down on the coil with your index and middle finger. Having the slab just hanging over the outside edge of the form allows the slab to be fully blended to the first coil. That is why the 11-inch (28-cm) ring is used on the smaller 10½-inch (27-cm) form. Next, blend the inside bottom of the coil to the slab using your fingers or a rib.
Roll out another 3-foot (0.9-m) coil and attach it to the first coil the same way—first, bring the outside clay up all the way around (3). Blend the inside bottom of the added coil to the previous coil. Use a needle tool to cut off the top of the last coil so you have an even, flat surface ready to be joined (4), score the rim while on the wheel, but set aside and wait to slip until ready to attach the two halves.
Repeat what you’ve done to make the other half of the moon vase. Their sizes should match. Once you have the two sides, let them stiffen up a bit. About 30 minutes is often plenty of time; the slabs will be stiffer, but the edges will still be soft enough to be attached. Score and slip each half, then put the two halves together (5, 6). Roll out a thinner 3-foot (0.9-m) coil, flatten it, then score and slip it. Score the joint line on the vase, then add and blend the flattened coil over the seam (7). The purpose of the coil on the seam is to avoid splitting the vase on the joint as you compress and stretch the vase from the inside. When you are finished blending the side coil, hold the vase upright. Gently rotate the vase upright, then press it into the bisque form to compress and shape the sides (8).
Altering the Form
The four coils (two added to each half) have provided enough width so that when I cut out the opening, I can maneuver my hand inside the vase. Depending on the size of your hand and the size of your coils, you may need more than four. All the coils should add up to a width broad enough that you can get your hand inside once the two sides are put together and the top opening is cut. Alternatively, you might choose to make a bigger opening. You are aiming for a roughed-out shape that is thick and can be freely handled.
After the joined form has stiffened up to a soft leather hard cut the top opening (9). Openings can be circular, oval, square, singular, or in multiples. Working from inside the vase, blend the coils to secure the joint (10). Adjust the shape as desired using a paddle (11) or other available tools, pressing and stretching from the inside as well. The edge walls are rounded so the feeling of the walls can smoothly extend onto part of the original surface of the slab.
Once the piece stiffens to more of a true leather hard, use the cake rings to draw reference guides for shaping and texturing the sides (12, 13). I use a flexible, old crosscut saw to create a wild quality of faceting (14, 15). I am imagining the clay as if it just appeared out of the ground or as stone with rough geologic edges. There is a fruitful tension between using a large, rough tool and a sense of finesse to bring life to the vase.
Compress the sides by rotating and tapping the vase over the bisque form (16). Examine the vase from all sides to determine if you are done texturing and cut and alter more if needed.
Finishing the Vase
After you have roughed in the desired surface, score and slip the bottom and coil on a thick foot, so there is leeway to cut freely to achieve your desired texture (17). Make any final adjustments to the mouth of the vase (18). Once the vase is complete, dry it slowly, first under plastic for a day or two and then under a towel to keep the edges from drying too quickly.
When fired in the anagama, I stack the unglazed moon vases on their sides supported by a circle of wads. On the top, a single cookie-shaped wad supports a small cup, which interrupts the flow of flame and ash, thus adjusting the pattern of the natural-ash glaze.
This form is an opportunity to create your own architecture. The recipe is two bowls put on edge with an opening and a foot. Each series is an occasion to play with edges, openings, and feet. How big are the bowls, how deep is the curve? What does the side surface look like; what size and shape are the foot and the rim? Combining all of these components creates the expressive and poetic nature of the form. I always find it helpful to work in series. Get familiar with the process first, then build on your experience and experiment to create your own vocabulary.
Catherine White lives and works in Warrenton, Virginia. She has an MFA in ceramics, studied painting in Aix-en-Provence, France, and taught ceramics at Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington, DC. She has had commissions for state gifts from President Obama and Michelle Obama, and is represented in both the Renwick and Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian. Since 1982 she has had yearly commissions from Omen-Azen, a Japanese restaurant in New York City. To see more, visit www.catherinewhite.com or on Instagram @artistpotter.
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