Inspiration

The items in the picture are from a Black Sea ship wreck called the "Pisa Wreck". One article says the brown (and amber, and olive) glazed pottery was ID'd as being produced at a particular Byzantine site, another says that chemical analysis scotched that location as a possible origin. They're of a type now referred to as "Novy Svet" ware.I love these pieces because they're so simple. I've done a few similar to this that are now waiting to be fired--I used commercially prepared light green and olive green glazes, so fingers crossed there won't be crazing or crawling for me to complain about!

There are also a few examples of Zeuxippos Ware from this wreck--one example is the piece with the fish sgraffito, sort of center left in the photo (which may not post large enough to really see). The style gets its name from the large number of pieces found in an excavation near the hippodrome in Istanbul, a location currently id'd as the Baths of Zeuxippos, hence the name. What I like about this style is that it uses clear glaze with only limited color mixed in, so you can see the contrast between the base clay and the slip. I mean to try replicating Zeuxippos ware, eventually.

As of today, I have 8 items sitting on the shelf waiting for their final firing, and 8 more at various other unfinished stages. With luck I'll have new pictures to post by next weekend. Assuming I remember where I put my camera!

Not crazed about this crazing

Xésta! I've discovered that at least two of my green glazed pieces have crazed, including my favorite piece, the tall goblet/tumbler that was first coated in a couple of layers of white terra sig. And to make it worse, the crazing is only on the inside (for now), in other words, on the surface that needs to be solidly glazed to be food safe. I am very angry with the studio about it. I get a lot of 'oh, so few people use the 04 glazes, we've always had a problem keeping them...' So, uh, why mix up huge buckets, eh? Why not fix your glaze recipes when people complain? More to the point, if firing fees INCLUDE the cost of glazes, but your glazes can't be trusted, are you still going to charge me for buying a pint of commercial glaze, or deduct it from the firing fee? Grumble. And goodbye, goblet.

Crazing again

My second sgraffito bowl has crazed. It also uses the amber glaze over the white slip. The studio is going to try modifying the composition of the glaze, but warned it will be 'trial and error' until it's right. I just realized tonight that it's not the the clay and glaze that aren't matching, it's the slip and the glaze. The two unslipped pieces I used that glaze on are perfectly fine. Best go email the studio with this extra tidbit of information...

New class, new tips

New pottery class met last night, and it was great--a large group and a really excellent teacher. Turns out a number of us are interested in sgraffito (though sadly all the others are 'modernists'), AND the teacher does sgraffito pretty regularly. She did a plate throwing demo, and before cutting it off the wheel she poured rather thick slip (almost batter consistency) onto the center of the plate and spread it around with a brush and then a thin metal rib. The wheel was still spinning the whole time. This technique is MUCH faster than brushing on many layers (which is what I've been doing) and gives a significantly smoother looking result. Another nice part was she brought the slip to the inside border of the rim, but left the rim itself uncovered--what a shortcut for when I want to do a piece with a thick band of original color clay at the outside! The only piece I made last night was a deep footed bowl, and getting the slip to distribute itself evenly was a bit of a challenge. I'll definitely be doing more with that technique. Laura (the teacher) did warn me, though, that pouring slip onto the piece while it's on the wheel doesn't work so well with shallow bowls--which are unfortunately common in Byzantine pottery--because the weight and the wetness can too easily overwhelm the body of the bowl and cause it to collapse. Laura has also promised to teach me how to carve more cleanly (thank goodness). And as at least one of my classmates wants to work on teapots I may have a chance to try a spouted pitcher--there's a lovely/slightly scary looking one I've seen in a photo from either Athens or Thessoloniki that really makes me think of an octopus. I'd love to make one like that some day!

Tricks of the trade

Sensible potters down at the studio fire test tiles so they'll know exactly what results to expect from different glazes on the particular clay they're using. Me, meh, that just ruins the adventure. Of course, the blue bowl above is one of many instances where I would have benefited from a more cautious approach. The container of slip was clearly marked white. It looked greyish. It fired blue. Yes, the bucket was mislabeled, lucky me. There was nothing at all wrong with the glaze on the other two items pictured (a Tudor era watering pot, and a drug jar/storage pot). It is the exact same glaze, just on two different clays. I'm still not ready for the thorough pre-planning test tiles approach. I'm just too impatient.

Crazing and crawling

Nothing really came out well from this kiln batch,except for the pieces with only a single glaze applied. The pieces that were slipped and/or slipped and carved, then glazed after the bisque stage all have problems. The main one is crawling--patches where the glaze didn't adhere and bits of the clay are exposed. I realized only after looking at the photos on my laptop that my golden brown byzantine bowl has crazed like mad. I'm not sure the full reason for either problem--I know in theory what causes crazing and crawling, but why it happened in these cases I don't know. I do suspect thermal shock on the crazed bowl, though. As I was carrying things to the car I heard the tell tale 'ping ping' of cracking glass (or in this case, glaze). The crawling is more worrisome, but I'm working on a slipped pitcher right now and will be particularly mindful when I glaze it to make sure there's no dirt or oil on either my hands or the pot! Oh, and I chipped the rim of my little yellow Byzantine cup. Very sad, all the way around. Back to the studio tomorrow, of course!

The beginings of a bibliography

All items in this list are in my possession-either electronically or hard copy--and most I've even read. Not bad for a few week's research. God bless graduate school training. (hmm, never thought I'd say THAT in print!)And, more pertinently, god bless JSTOR. (For those who aren't familiar with it, JSTOR is an online database of full text articles from peer reviewed journals.)

1. Aravantinos, V., et al. (2003) “Plataiai in Boiotia: A preliminary report of the 1996-2001 campaigns.” Hesperia, 72, 281-320

2.Armstrong, Pamela (2005). “The Earlier Byzantine Castle at Torone.” The Bulletin of the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens, 3(5), 7-15

3. ----- (1989). “Some Byzantine and Later Settlements in Eastern Phokis.” Annual of the British School at Athens, 84, 1-47

4. ----- (1980). “Thebes: Excavations on the Kadmeia.” Annual of the British School at Athens, 88,295-335

5. Dark , Ken (2002). Byzantine Pottery. Tempus Publishing LTD

6. Dawkins, RM and JP Droop (1910/1911). “Byzantine pottery from Sparta.” Annual of the British School at Athens, 17, 23-28

7. Frantz, M. Alison (1938). “Middle Byzantine Pottery in Athens.” Hesperia, 7(3), 429-467

8. Gerstel, Sharon E. J., et al. (2003). “A late medieval settlement at Panakton.” Hesperia, 72, 147-234

9. Heath, Sebastian and Billur Tekkok, eds. (2007-2008). Greek, Roman and Byzantine Pottery at Ilion (Troy). (No location): Project Troia

10. Kontogiannis, Nikos D. (2008). “Excavation of a 13th-century church near Vasilitsi, Southern Messenia.” Hesperia, 77, 497-537

11. MacKay, Theodora Stillwell (1967). “More Byzantine and Frankish pottery from Corinth.” Hesperia, 36(3), 249-320

12. Megaw, A.H.S (1968). “Zeuxippus Ware.” The Annual of the British School at Athens, 63, 67-88

13. Morgan, Charles H. (1942), “The Byzantine Pottery.” Corinth, Vol. 11, 1-343, 345, 347-359, 361, 363-373, i-vii, ix-xi, xiii-xv. American School at Athens

14. Papanikola-Bakirtzis, Demetra, Eunice Maguire and Henry Maguire (1992). Ceramic Art from Byzantine Serres. Urbana: University of Illinois Press

15. Rice, David Talbot (1966). “Late Byzantine Pottery at Dumbarton Oaks.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 20, 207-219

16. Vroom, Joanita (1998). “Medieval and post-medieval pottery from a site in Boeotia: A case study example of post-classical archaeology.” Annual of the British School at Athens, 93, 513-546

17. Waage, Frederick O. (1933). “The Roman and Byzantine Pottery.” Hesperia, 2(2) (The American Excavations in the Athenian Agora), 279-328

Coffee cups, but no coffee

I am charmed by the handled cups found among the Byzantine pottery at Corinth. So many look like what we'd call a coffee or tea cup, and of course this was long before coffee was drunk (although I'm sure there were some sort of brewed 'teas'--like the hot water and anise drink listed in one of the monastic typika). I'm posting some examples from Corinth...

I've tried making one -- not a straight replica, but one generally correct in shape and color. Right now I only have a photo of the cup in greenware form; it's been bisqued and I glazed it last night but as I'm about the only person at the studio who works in low fire clays I expect to have to wait awhile for the finished product. So far the clay hasn't shrunk as much as I feared it would...still learning how to gauge that! I'm using "Carolina Buff" clay, firing at 06/04. At bisque, the clay is a nice peachy/pink color (although I'd have preferred something more tan...).


Throwing tip: plastic coke bottle caps worked beautifully to shape the handles while I was waiting for them to dry enough to apply. Having them already circular made the process much much easier.