Mortar & Pestle
This project was about making a huge mortar and pestle for kitchen use. I had a need to do something bigger than my strength was. I could barely lift the plaster form, and when it was filled with liquid porcelain I needed help to turn it upside down to pour out the excess porcelain. With this project I was experimenting with the thickness the porcelain should have. What you see on the photo is not the actual thickness of the bowl. In fact, it's two walls that are about 3mm thick with empty space on the inside. Thanks to that it was possible to produce this object. It gave an ilussion of a very thick wall which I wanted. Also, the object is not very heavy, though it looks like it.
One issue with this project was: why to use stoneware/porcelain which is easy to crack for a mortar? It did not seem like a logical chocice, but I wanted to examine that. I can say this mortar works perfectly for crumbling cookies, mixing herbs or grating spices.
My Mortar and pesle is a huge object considering kitchen or dining space. This project could find it's home in very specific areas, I think. For a mass production I would go for a smaller version of this project.
biscuit firing and glaze firing comparison of sizes
