TEA STORAGE JAR (obvara, smooth surface)

Wheel-thrown ceramic "ginger jar" for storage of dried goods, such as tea or coffee.    Food safe but due to the lower temperature firing technique, not water-proof.

Obvara is a 12th Century firing technique (sometimes referred to as "Baltic Raku") where pottery removed carefully from a hot kiln (1550 F / 850 C) and quickly immersed into a 3-day-old ferment bath made of yeast, flour, sugar and water. When removed from the ferment bath, as soon as air touches the surface it begins scalding the surface, turning it first a caramel colour, then darker brown, then black. The colour change is halted when the pot is then submerged in water.

You can see a short video of the process here.