Bottle: Ubud Forest
Bottle: Ubud Forest
About
Wheel-thrown stoneware. Woodfired at GAYA Ceramic Art Center, Bali, February 2026.
A small bud vase.
29 × 10 cm (11.4 × 3.9 in)
The Making
This vessel was placed in the kiln on its side. The true color of the clay is the warm brown you see on the underside. To stop it fusing to the kiln shelf, three sea shells were used as wadding underneath — they burned away completely in the firing, leaving their prints pressed into the clay where they held the piece. The grey across the top is fly-ash that landed and melted into the surface as the kiln was fed. The single dot on the opposite side is a mark left by a piece of wadding.
At the bottom: impressions of dried mushroom coral, stamped into the clay after trimming.
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.