Mr. DeMille, Oh, Mr. DeMille

I'm ready for my close-up.


What is it with camera lenses?

This little "Viking" bowl just doesn't photograph well. Somehow, the camera distorts it. It's body is so much more rounded than it appears in shots. The has more of a smooth transition from flare to the tilted up points.

I've tried to take a good photo of this piece several times and so far, this is the best it has shown. I've set it up with a paper drape backdrop, used special full spectrum lights, tried every angle.

These shots are done just on my kitchen table with natural light from the adjacent window. Sheesh!

The glaze is a shino, fired in oxidation at between a cone 5 and 6. The glaze is from Coyote.

The bowl was thrown on a batt made from a sink off-cut --the piece that has been cut out of a kitchen counter for the sink. Or at least that's how the batts started to be made. I think now, they are just made as batts in the first place.

The slick finish on the batt allows me to let the porcelain dry on the batt. If I trim the outer edge of the foot at the time of throwing, I only have to burnish the bottom for a nice, smooth finish.