Results of rutile over tenmoku experiment

            You may remember this post in which I showed some pictures of a vase and a cup after I glazed them and before they were fired. Well, those pieces were fired, and I am just now getting around to posting the results. I was using rutile as an overglaze on tenmoku at cone 6 in reduction. My hope was for a nice golden color where the rutile was. The first picture below is before firing, and the second picture is after firing.

            I did get my nice golden color - but only where the rutile was most concentrated, on the heaviest brushstrokes. So all the little swirls and scales are not really visible on the finished pot. But that color is so nice! Here is a closer picture:

            I don't have a picture of the cup yet (it is still packed away in some box from the move), but it has a similar effect. The difference is that on the cup I mostly used small brushes, so unless you know there is supposed to be a dragon there, it just looks like I spilled something on one side of it while glazing.
            You might be thinking that I am disappointed that all my little details didn't show up. Actually I'm not disappointed at all - I got some good information out of this test. I know now how much rutile I need to use, and what kinds of brushes work better to apply it thickly enough. And I know that the color I get is definitely nice like I hoped. I'm thinking now in terms of larger, less delicate designs, like making a serving bowl or plate and putting a big swirl of rutile over tenmoku inside, so that there is a golden swirl on the black/brown background. I think that would look pretty awesome.
            As for these two pieces that I experimented on, I wasn't super happy with the vase to start with. I think the form I was aiming for would work better (or perhaps just more like I intended) on a taller vase than this one. Thus I didn't mind just practicing my painting technique on it as an experiment. The cup, on the other hand, is a nice cup. I think the cup looks all right if you aren't busy trying to figure out how it's supposed to have a dragon on it. So, all in all conclusion? Good experiment. Now I can think of other things to try!