I tried out finishing some burnished, Mason stained pottery with the obvara technique in my last workshop, but it turned out the obvara had a difficult time clinging onto the surfaces; I decided to try again with unburnished Mason stained ceramics.
I decided to do three bowls stained a very light pink, a stronger orange pastel, and a stronger lavender pastel. I think the results of those stains were extremely subtle. This was in part because the lavender pigmentation went partially fugitive, the orange is perhaps too akin in hue, and the pink was already barely there and also went fugitive. It’s also because I allowed them to go into the fermented yeast bath right out of the kiln instead of cooling off for a minute or two, and I’ve found that when the pottery is at its top temperature, the majority of the carbonization is usually quite dark. That obviously covers over any underlying stain, but it provides a fuller value range and in the areas where there is minimal carbonization, it leads to high contrast. They’re beautiful obvara bowls, regardless of whether the Mason stains had much impact!
Here is the very light pink:
Next, the orange (note that the lighter areas are a bit warmer!):
Finally, the lavender; interestingly despite the fugitive nature the one that is perhaps the most visible due to the coolness it contributes:
