vase from the wood fire kiln with the cheshire cat

Inspired by the grinning cat from "Alice in Wonderland", this unique piece was designed and manufactured. To bring out the facial expressions of the shamelessly grinning cat, the bisqued vase was further meticulously worked by hand.

The spherical vase is filigree handmade on the potter's wheel, in leather-hard condition the clay was turned cleanly and the bottom was modelled.

For the glaze firing the wood firing technique was used. The kiln and the ceramics it contains are fired with wood for about 12 hours. The ceramics are placed directly above the fire and the smoke smoulders through the kiln, enveloping everything it contains. It is continuously fired more or less according to the colour of the rising smoke. The resulting smoke is mixed with soot, resin fumes and flying sparks and forms this unique ash landing glaze.
These extreme conditions and a temperature of 1300 °C cause the clay to sinter, making the vase absolutely waterproof. The pyrite clay of this unique piece only comes into its own at such a temperature. The iron contained in the clay bleeds out of the mass and forms a kind of freckles over the entire piece.

The vase is about 11.5 cm high and has a diameter of about 13 cm at the belly. Its weight is only 350 g. This very low weight intensifies the impression of the nebulous cat immensely and captures it realistically.