Masterpieces: Pottery the Touch of the Master's Hand

 Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isa 64:8

I have been talking about our lives as masterpieces, and no such discussion would be complete without adding pottery. Pottery begins with the clay. Clay gets its color from the impurities added to kaolinite. These impurities are primarily metal oxides. The specific minerals present, such as iron, manganese, and copper, determine the final color of the clay. For example, iron oxides create reds, browns, and oranges, while cobalt creates blues, and chromium can produce greens. What are the colors of your life?

Nowadays, most pots are literally thrown on a wheel. But before that, the clay is wedged. To wedge, use either the Rams Head or Spiral method, which involves repeatedly pushing and pulling the clay. A master potter avoids pushing only, as this can push air pockets deeper into the clay; instead, they combine pushing with pulling and twisting to force air out. A small amount of clay is thrown in the center of a wet pottery wheel. The potter wets his hand and smashes down a little in the middle. While the wheel is spinning, the potter makes a hole in the center of the clay with their fingers, leaving enough clay for the bottom. Then they widen the opening to create the desired thickness for the pot's base. Then, carefully using water, their fingers, and a few tools, the potter will pull up the sides of the vase. With one hand inside and the other outside the clay wall, slowly and evenly he pulls his hands upward together to raise the walls of the pot. 

Occasionally, he lubricates with water to keep the clay from sticking and adjusts his pressure as he goes. The higher he pulls the clay, the slower the wheel should spin. The potter uses tools and his hands to smooth out the rim and the surface of the pot. He compresses the bottom of the pot to prevent cracking. He removes any excess water. He continues shaping the pot to achieve the final form before cutting it off the wheel. 

The vase can be reshaped many times as long as it is wet and remains on the wheel. When the potter has achieved the shape he wants, he will let the pot dry to a leather-hard state for trimming. He will use a piece of string or wire to remove the pot from the wheel. The pot dries on a shelf for several days. It is now greenware and very brittle. This is followed by a bisque firing, and eventually, glazing and a final glaze firing. Eventually, it is put under heat and it hardens.  Then glazes are added and it is refired when it comes out of the kiln, you have a beautiful pot.

There are several specialty methods of pottery, like Nerikomi, which is a Japanese ceramic technique that involves layering and kneading multiple colors of clay to create intricate, permanent patterns that run through the body of the finished piece. The process begins by forming a block of stacked colored clays, which is then sliced into slabs to reveal the pattern. These slabs are used to hand-build the final object, ensuring the design is an integral part of the piece's structure. Raku is a fast-firing process where red-hot glazed pieces are removed from the kiln and cooled, often in combustible materials like sawdust, which creates unique colors and effects. Hidasuki features scarlet "fire cord" markings created by wrapping a pot in straw and burning it off in the kiln, primarily seen on Bizen ware.

You can also make a coiled pot by rolling out a snake of clay. Coiling it in a circle and then using water and your fingers to smooth it out and give it shape.  

There are also several decorative and glazing techniques like:
Kintsugi: The art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, treating the cracks as part of the object's history.

Sometsuke: Uses an indigo-colored pigment called gosu to paint designs onto white clay before firing.
Kiseto: A glaze that creates a yellow color, achieved by applying a light ash glaze over thin, raw clay before firing.
Kannyu: A decorative technique that deliberately creates fine cracks in the glaze during the firing process.

Hakeme: Applying a white slip to the clay with a stiff brush to create a textured effect

In Genesis, we are told that man was made from the dust. How appropriate it is then to think of our lives like a vase. We must be centered, and Holy water must be applied, or we will be mishappen. We are shaped by the touch of the Master's hand. He forms us as He wills our shape, often determining our function. Below are few examples of different Greek pottery and their shapes.

Our shape requires pressure and pulling. Sometimes our covering is cracked, sometimes it is the actual pot itself, but the Master Potter can still shape it into something beautiful.

Whether we are a song, a painting or a piece of pottery, are what makes us a masterpiece and determines our value is the Touch of the Master's Hand