Paradox Pottery, Horse Shoe NC

My pots are wheel thrown, burnished and coated with terra sigliatta. After bisque firing, wax resist patterns are applied. The pots go through a salting process and are then fired in a Raku kiln, then in sawdust firing.

I invented the process I'm working in 20 years ago. I have been exploring and refining it through trial and error ever since. Simple rounded earth inspired shapes are the vehicles for for my unique process. 20 years is a long time to explore and refine a family of forms. When you take into account Korean potters refined their shapes over generations it's only a moment. The difference is I'm doing it consciously while for them it just happened. The pots are form and surface. I spend a lot of time on the surfaces because I want a pristine platform for the firing. I do a low temperature salt firing followed by a sawdust firing. Both produce random chaotic markings. By combining both in separate areas with wax resist

Order is created without losing the vitality of chaos. The concept of order/chaos has long interested me and my pots are symbolic of my investigation in this basic duality as part of the nature of reality. The salt is not thrown into the kiln, it's injected into the process before firing in a proprietary process that takes about a week. I have had no guidelines in the development. You can't look something up in a book that has never been published. I continue today to succeed and fail and learn and evolve with every pot I make.

www.paradoxpottery.com (includes online sales)