Ken Adams

Is it possible to be friends with Gravity? Sure it is - read on! Porcelain slip (with added 20% 'binding' matrix) was applied with a pallette knife on a partially inflated balloon. Upon first full inflation, the slip was sprayed with yellow and black Mason stain, and these colours were then 'mixed' into the slip while the balloon remained fully inflated. A couple of deflation/inflation cycles were then carried out, followed by almost no drying time before final deflation. Fired upside down to 1270C on a bed of sand with no internal support, gravity 'created' a bulge in a mid-section 'vulnerable' zone. This was the first observation of a serendipitous event that then led to the practice of intentionally allowing gravity to shape vessels in the kiln, with spectacular results.