Plate: Ubud Forest
Plate: Ubud Forest
About
Wheel-thrown stoneware, manipulated. Woodfired at GAYA Ceramic Art Center, Bali, February 2026.
A triangle plate.
5 × 22 cm (2.0 × 8.7 in)
The Making
Thrown on the wheel, then pushed into a triangle shape while the clay was still soft. Another piece — likely a cup — was placed on top during loading, fixed with high-temperature clay wadding and sea shells. The shells burned away completely, leaving their prints pressed into the surface. The brown patch is a fire shadow: where the piece above blocked the fly-ash and direct flame, the plate's natural clay color came through. Everything outside that shadow was reached by the fire.
Rice straws were also laid across the plate before loading. They burned away too, leaving faint scorched marks where they rested.
The Firing
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Made during a two-week wood firing workshop at GAYA Ceramic Art Center in Ubud, Bali, led by ceramicist John Dix — known for his Kurinuki carving technique and for teaching a looser, more instinctive approach to the wheel. The firing was led by master ceramicist Hillary Kane.
The kiln was fed wood continuously for approximately 50 hours, reaching 1270°C. Fuel: coffee tree wood. Loading method: Kibuta — firewood packed tightly into the firebox to restrict oxygen, pushing volatile flames and fly-ash through the chamber. This creates the flashed color and natural ash surface you see on the piece. No glaze was applied. Everything you see is ash, clay body, and clay slip.
The team worked in shifts around the clock. I did two six-hour shifts — one overnight, one at the closing stage when the temperature was already near its peak.
The firing ended with reduction cooling: oxygen was deliberately restricted as the kiln cooled, stealing oxygen molecules from the clay and surface. This produces the deep color shifts and the faint metallic quality. This was one of the last firings in this kiln — GAYA is relocating.