platinum vases with sand base

h 25 and 26cm

two cylindrical vases, wheel thrown from
a dark brown czech stoneware clay with
a lot of natural inclusions of quartz and limonite.
a glaze saturated with various metallic oxides
has been applied inside and out on the left piece
and only on the inside of the right hand piece.
for the latter I used a clear apple wood ash glaze
on the outside, resulting in a glossier finish.
in a subsequent firing, a platinum overglaze,
containing actual platinum, has been added
on the outside of both pieces.
the appearance of the platinum coat depends
on the texture of the surface it is applied on,
so it is matt on one vase and glossy on the other.
I fired the vases on bases of coarse sand,
a technique that has been used in the far east
for centuries before the advent of kiln shelves.
a lot of the sand stuck to the bottoms of the vessels
and I left it mostly in place, only beveling the base
and cleaning loose bits