Splitfire Pottery by Bill Perrine

[debunix]

I was first introduced to Bill's work in this thread from the TeaChat Forum, and I first bought one of his pieces through this TeaChat special order. I've long watched his Etsy shop and made occasional purchases. Some time ago I asked him if he could make me a pitcher for sharing tea with my office tea buddies--the group is up to about 10 people who often are happy to share some tea--because the ones I like that I've found online and in brick and mortar shops require several trips up and down the hall (and that's not good for a delicate tea that goes off when it sits too long). At the time I asked, he wasn't able to do it, but a year or three later, he posted a bunch of new teawares in my favorite shino glaze and there was a gorgeous pitcher among them, just right for my needs.

Here's almost the whole Splitfire collection together:



and here is the pitcher



and a closeup of one of the little contrasting colored gems on the pitcher:



They're like jewels, beautiful from a distance and up close. The pitcher got a lot of comments about how lovely it is when it debuted at the office.

Bill makes a lot of pieces with a wider base than many potters, where the tapering to a very narrow base may look stylish, and for a not-so-graceful tealover who lives with rambunctious cats, Bill's wider-based pieces are terrific.



But even this large yunomi--my first piece from that TeaChat special purchase--is thin walled and more delicate in the hand than it looks from a distance.



This little gem is now my favorite hot-chocolate cup in the morning



I still haven't gotten a shot that adequately shows off the amazing impact of the ultra-glossy gold against the grey ash streaks on this tiny cup



This turquoise oribe glazed cup was gifted to one of my office buddies at work



so it couldn't be there with the rest of the collection for the shoot.

Bill's Etsy shop is empty at the moment--I think being a grandfather is taking up a lot of his time. But it's worth checking out from time to time.