Bruce

He is the night.

This piece is raku fired. After throwing, carving, bisque firing, and glazing, it is once again placed in a kiln and then quickly heated to around 1750 degrees Fahrenheit. After which, it is taken out and placed in a lidded trash can full of combustibles. The lidding of the trashcan, once the combustibles have caught fire, contributes to the matte black aspects of the piece (the stem). Any metallic looking "flashing" is caused by the glazes achieving very high temperatures and quickly cooling, freezing the color change in place.