Mortar and Pestle

Mortar & Pestle - hand built from coils and
sculpted from akio clay.  Kaki and temmoku
glazed, reduction fired.

We needed a mortar & pestle for our kitchen so I decided to try making a ceramic one rather than spend $15 to buy one.  I designed the mortar by pinching and coiling a small bowl supported by a coiled ring.  The two pieces were joined when the clay was still wet.  I made the pestle buy just taking a log of clay and grasping it with my hand and fingers to make the handle ergonomically customized for my hand.  Unfortunately the clay shrinks about 10% during firing so it's not an exact fit, but close enough.  On the advice of a friend, I left the pestle tip and mortar bowl unglazed to yield a rough virgin clay surface - the akio has lots of large particles and so the rough surface is best for grinding whole spices and powders.  Overall it turned out quite good, both in form and function.  Next time I'll make one a little larger since things tend to fly out of the bowl sometimes when I'm pounding.