My devotion to iron-red gold-ring glaze can only be described as an undying passion. From following the steps laid out for me, to walking freely on my own, to now venturing wherever my heart leads — nearly forty years of exploration have finally brought me into the same time and space as the kiln transformations of iron-red gold-ring glaze, where I can speak with them directly.
A single notion, a single idea, may take days, weeks, or months of testing to confirm; crossing to a new level may take years of exploration; and entering the microscopic world of kiln transformation requires an unchanging, ever-patient heart. Once you and the glaze occupy the same space and become one, its changes reveal themselves clearly.
So-called kiln transformation is really just different manifestations under different conditions and environments — much like the process of human growth. A glaze is a moment frozen under specific conditions, but a person cannot freeze in place; we are always changing. If one could truly understand the patterns of human change and hold that moment still, wouldn’t that be a kind of eternal youth? In fact, it can be done — and I know how.
Coming back to iron-red gold-ring glaze, I began to “negotiate” with the glaze: make the red flowers a little bigger, a little smaller; a few more, a few fewer; blooming in some places, not in others; red flowers with no gold ring, red flowers with a gold ring; one gold ring, two gold rings. To every one of these requests, the glaze “agreed,” and so a whole series of different glaze effects came into being.
Red flowers dense at both ends, sparse in the middle
Red flowers abundant at both ends, empty in the middle
Red flowers dense above, sparse below
A friend who saw my work set me a challenge: fire one where the red flowers form the shape of a map of China! Now, that was no ordinary assignment. I discussed it carefully with the glaze, and the answer, once again, turned out to be yes — see for yourself.
The Moon Rising Over the Sea Map of China
Red flowers few above, many below Red flowers many above, few below
Small conical cup: “Watching the Fire from Across the River” (dense at both sides, sparse in the middle)
On August 18th, the “moon rising” effect improved somewhat, though the “moon” I had in mind had not yet appeared in its full, perfect form.
“The Moon Rising Over the Sea” series, no. 2
In kiln-transformation glazes, the texture that appears on the glaze surface is generated inside the kiln once the body is glazed and fired — a process that unfolds entirely according to the shifting behavior of the kiln fire, as natural as rainfall. Now that I have fully mastered its patterns of transformation, I can intervene and control it artificially, much like man-made rain — and the leap from nature to human control is no small feat!
On August 20th, drawing on the experience of previous attempts, I reduced the red flowers at the bottom a little further, and at last, in the upper-middle area, a “moon” rose!
“The Moon Rising Over the Sea” series, no. 3: the moon has finally risen
August 21, 2021
