Burnishing clay

I saw this really beautiful pot in a gallery a while back and it's stuck in my mind ever since.  It was a black pot, and the designs on the pot were so intricate, but they were created using a matte/glossy surface.  It was also completely black, I love it but it was $450 and I just couldn't do it :(

I got home and got to thinking that maybe I could make myself something similar!  So for now I'm working on a little test piece to see how everything goes.  If it goes well I'll get another clay that doesn't have grog in it, which is not ideal for burnishing.  I would also do well to figure out a way to smoke fire to get it black!

I just coil built a small pot.  If only I could throw!

Smoothed out fairly well.

Final smoothing and the stone I'll be burnishing with.

Augh, I forgot that burnishing just exacerbates any lumpy areas on a pot.  At least I learned how much easier oil makes it to burnish!  Before I only knew to use a little water and it took so long, but the oil!  Oh gosh, it just went on so easy and the burnishing was a dream.  I'll need to do one more round before it's ready to fire, but so far it's been good!

So far though this little test gave me so many ideas for wanting to make miniature pots.  The one here is only about three inches tall.  I want to make tiny red figure pottery.