Chopstick holder

One of the pieces I made recently at home was a holder for chopsticks. I had been using a drinking glass - perfectly serviceable, but not very decorative. Also, I wanted to improve my slab-building technique.

I posted about this earlier, but I'll repeat myself here so that I have all the information in one place, more or less.

Instead of using a stamp or roller for the design, I snipped some tips off an arborvitae in my yard.

Each side is about 3"x6". I left the sprigs on the clay while I assembled the container, to prevent smudging of the design. That's something one can't do with rollers and stamps.

This is where things get hazy since I didn't take any notes, nor did I post about the progress. I *think* I had it bisque fired, then added detail using underglazes.

I *think* I did not like this red underglaze, so removed it and started over with the original underglazes?

At some point, I applied wax resist to the bottom, using a brush. Then I covered the whole thing with Amaco Celadon 'Snapdragon'. It came out darker than I expected, covering the detail more than I wanted.

But it's functional! It even holds water.

Lessons learned:

• The wax resist looks uneven along the bottom. I would prefer to dip pieces into wax to get a more even edge.
• I wish I had used a darker underglaze to accent the detail.
• The whole thing is a bit wonky, so that is something I need to work on.

Initially, I did not like the transparency of the Celadon glazes, but they are growing on me.