Chawan, wood-fired iron rich stoneware with crawling shino and natural ash glazes

This is a very special teabowl. Does a dog have Buddha nature or not? Joshu answered "MU" or "NO" This is referencing the first koan in the Gateless Gate, a collection of koans studied by students of Zen Buddhism. While I was glazing my pots for the last wood-firing, this bowl happened. Very spontaneously, Mu just appeared, moved my finger through the wet glaze, and made me smile. Confused yet? Great :)

This chawan is wheel thrown out of iron rich stoneware. The interior of the bowl has been glazed with a thinner variation of the exterior glaze so it doesn't have the texture, but has sealed the clay surface.

It measures approx. 2.5"t x 4.5"w at the rim's widest point. It's wonderfully light and feels amazing in the hand.

I've been pursuing this shino surface now for years, the glaze is very tricky at almost every stage of the process. The claybody, glaze composition, thickness which it is appied, how it's handled before going into the kiln all present challenges before it's fired. This glaze needs to be fired hot and long so that the feldspar smooths over and melts enough to eliminate rough edges. So, finally I've had a firing were all these factors came together for me and I was able to create a whole body of work representing this long sought after result.


Please be aware that this work is fired in a wood kiln and do to the nature of the process will have small imperfections, rough areas or other characteristics which are different from what you might expect from store bought ceramics. It's part of the beauty. I recommend taking special care of these works by hand washing and treating them with attention and respect.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask and thanks for checking out my work!!