Mushroom anvil bowl

There are all kinds of doodads to help the hand-builder make things that are uniform (more or less). One of them is what is called a mushroom anvil. Made from wood, a variety of forms may be attached to the handle. To shape the clay, the potter makes a slab, lays it out on a piece of foam rubber, then quickly presses the form into the clay. (See my anvil here.)

I tested out the anvil a while back, using two different colors of clay, one colored with mason stain.

After a bisque firing, I applied clear glaze to just the inside to display the difference between the glazed and unglazed surfaces.

As you can see, the bowl is quite small. There are larger forms available, but I haven't coughed up the bucks for those yet. I believe these are hand turned and made from fine wood, so a little pricy.