4² Southern Ice Porcelain
4² is an installation of 16 cups made of Southern Ice porcelain. The cups are slip cast with walls between 1-2mm thick to bring out the translucency of this fine porcelain. 4² was selected for exhibition in the Rotary Arts Spectacular in 2014.
For more images and further information on the nature, origins and qualities of porcelain, including Southern Ice porcelain, see the Southern Ice porcelain page.
Qingbai Glaze
To achieve the delicate blue of the qingbai glaze the cups were fired to 1280°C in a reducing atmosphere in a gas kiln. An authentic qingbai (blue-white) and the related celadon (green) glazes are achieved with the use of a very small amount of a single colourant - red iron oxide. The iron is reduced in the atmosphere in a gas kiln and, in the absence of titanium in the glaze ingredients and under the right firing conditions, produces this translucent ice blue glaze.