What is Obvara?

 The Obvara firing process, which originated in Eastern Europe around the 12th Century, involves scalding the finish on the pottery to seal the porous surface. Similar to the raku pottery process, a bisqued pot is heated--in this case to 1650°F--and removed from the heat. The difference is that the pot is then dipped into a specific obvara yeast mixture before being dunked in cool water to rapidly cool the piece. This interrupts the textural/design changes to the walls of the pot. If this didn't happen the pot would continue to blacken until nearly solid black. Since obvara treated work is not waterproof (as the original treatment suggests) Semyware seals the pottery with either wax or varnish.