Sodafired Tea Cup

This beautiful handmade soda fired 8 fl-oz (240 ml) tea cup is crafted by master ceramicist and friend Adil Writer. It is food safe, lead free, dishwasher and microwave safe, but we would still recommend that you lovingly wash and rinse this beauty by hand.  Adil Writer who lives in the experimental community of Auroville in the forests of South India, is one of the few ceramicists who is well versed in the art of soda firing. This is an atmospheric firing technique where “soda” is sprayed into the kiln near peak temperature, usually over 2192°F or 1200°C, nearly 20 hours into the firing. The sodas used are sodium bi-carbonate, commonly known as baking soda, and sodium carbonate, also known as soda ash. Soda, once introduced to the heat of the kiln, will vaporize and bond with the surfaces of the pots to form a sodium-silicate glaze giving a beautiful spectrum of luscious, drippy, mottled, orange-peel effects; a look which we can only get with soda firings. Hope you enjoy the variations and unpredictability of this method of firing clay. The hiss and crackle of the firings leave their marks on the tea cups, giving surfaces that can never be duplicated. Certain pieces may have slight cracks and ground surfaces, not to be seen as defects, but to be cherished for the story they tell us of their initiation through fire!