PATIENCE

I know I have mentioned my need to understand and even master the art of being patient. It would seem to be that patience is as much a part of any craft as is technique and technology and in a way, of far more value. As a beginning potter, I had less than zero patience and I find now 20 years later, though I am certainly far more patient than I was, it is never enough and in somewhat short supply. When you think about it, we all probably wait away a third of our lives and another third sleeping. This is not to say that while waiting, valuable pursuits are not achieved.

Last week, my patience wore thread bare waiting on pots to dry and to get a bisque fired. Today, I am at the upper temperature range of a glaze firing and as I find myself checking the kiln every 10 minutes or so, I realize, I am no more patient than I was many years ago. I am sure once the kiln is off, I will try to tear down what remains of my pottery patience waiting to crack open the kiln and get the pots unloaded. As the quote goes; “endurance is patience concentrated………………..”

GLAZDAY

Today and tomorrow are glazing days, which sometimes leads me to think back on epic glazing sessions. Today I was thinking back to the summer I spent at Kent State on scholarship. The summer I was working there was dominated by Kirk Mangus, Eva Kwong, John Gil and Marie Woo. We were involved with throwing, hand building, glazing for gas and salt firing and firing the anagama. Out of the summer came a wonderful group of wood ash glazes that were in use at KSU in the mid-90s and are probably still in use today.

What follows is some of the cone 9/10 wood ash glaze recipes we developed and used;

WOO’S ASH
Ash 50
Wollastonite 50
Cu.Carb. .5 to 1%

KSU White Ash
F-4 50
Kaolin 25
Ash 25

KSU Green Ash
Albany Slip 33.3
Custer Spar 33.3
Ash 33.3

KSU Runny Ash
Albany Slip 50
Ash 50

KSU Black Ash
Albany Slip 50
Redart 30
Custer Spar 10
Ash 10

(Illustrated is an ash and slip glazed bottle from techniques that I developed during the KSU summer)

PACKING FOR TRAVEL

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been asked, what is the best way to pack a chawan for shipping? Having verbally described the method three different times, I decided to post a little narrative of my packing method. What follows will seem nothing more than common sense, but I am continually amazed that packing is another discipline that needs to be learned through practical experience. As a side note, we won a large tsubo off eBay many years back and when it arrived in NH from Hawaii, there was a 14” tall by 18” wide tsubo in a 20” square box, no packing material except the pot was filled with peanuts. It arrived in perfect condition, so go figure.

The first caveat is that there is no one way to pack ceramics for successful results. That being said, in 25+ years of shipping chawan, I have never had one arrive broken and cannot say the same for pieces coming to me.

The first thing I do is to cut two strips of small bubble, bubblewrap just slightly longer than the circumference of the box and just the width of the box opening. I lay these strips in a cross, one “vertical, the other “horizontal” (see illus. A), then place the paper wrapped chawan into the box, pushing the strips down. I then fold the excess wrap into the chawan. In the next step, I take four, previously prepared bubblewrap rolls and stuff each one into a corner of the box (see illus. B), this makes sure the bowl will not shift during shipping.


Next I take a piece of bubblewrap, roughly the size of the box opening and twice as long, fold it in half and place it on top of the packaging (see illus. C). Now I put the wood box lid on and gently, yes gently, shake the box. If there is any movement in the box, you need to stuff more bubblewrap either in the corners or on top of the packaging. One real beauty of packing the bowl in its box, is according to most shipping requirements, all fragile objects should be double boxed and what is better than a wood box in a cardboard one?

Once this is worked out to your satisfaction, tie the box shut, wrap in a layer of bubblewrap and place it in a box with at least 1” on all sides (though up to 4” is preferable), top and bottom, pack the voids with a layer of cardboard on all four sides and fill with “peanuts" and this should do the trick.

As custodians of these pots, it is important to pass the pieces along in the same condition as they arrived. Enough cannot be said for packing for traveling and getting there all in one piece.

Important PSA; Don’t drink and pack and ALWAYS pay for the insurance

LEAVES INTO SILK

I am not really sure that there is anything that tries my patience as much as waiting on pots to dry and get them into a bisque. The last few days, I have been watching pots dry which I must admit is probably better than watching paint dry, anticipating that moment when I was relatively certain it was time to load the bisque. As I waited on the pots, I got a large batch of the Ao glaze made up for some wax resist design vases and covered jar I had thrown.

Most potters are experienced with the results of firing damp pots, or firing too quickly. The dull pop that emanates from within the kiln is unmistakable and in its unleashed fury, it is most likely to destroy anything within its proximity. Given that I would like to avoid that outcome, I wait, ever so patiently as the pots dry.

The bique is loaded and rather full and I will fire it off on Thursday. I will finish my prep work for the next glaze firing on Thursday and Friday and will actually glaze on Monday and Tuesday. “Patience is power, with time a mulberry leaf becomes silk”, an old Chinese proverb.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

I was rummaging through a box, looking for old test pods and came across I teabowl I saved from a few years back. The teabowl is porcelain with a Shino glaze and ash accents. I made this bowl as a demo while teaching at Wesleyan Potters. The kilns were mostly fired by Ryan Bothamley, the studio tech prior to going off to RIT for grad school, so I have him to thank. Based on the amount of unexpected carbon trapping, it must have been in the right place at the right time.

ARS LONGA, VITA BREVIS

“Clay is the continuity between raw earth and food on the table, a connection through which each pot fulfills not merely its utilitarian function but carries complex iconographic and spiritual message’s to do with life’s renewal.”

David Lewis from the book; WARREN MACKENZIE An American Potter

(Illustrated is an amber glazed porcelain faceted vase, a gift from Warren MacKenzie)

C + Ss = EV

I have often though how wonderful it would be if there were formulas like in physics and mathematics, though less complex than Fermat’s, to appreciate and measure emotional occurrences in our lives. For instance, we own a simple 20th century Oribe candlestick, it doesn’t hold much monetary value, but the emotional impact is immeasurable. Think of a great Monet painting, a well used pottery bowl or a daughter’s finger painting, the value of these objects is beyond conventional value.

In a recent email exchange, a customer expressed the notion that; “the form is the function”. While I can partially relate to that concept, I believe that the function of an object can be purely the emotional value; the function of the object is beauty. I think that though many objects are certainly made to be used, their use does not strictly define their function. An object’s presence and appreciation can enrich a viewer, add to their environment and give back inspiration just by being. A chawan does not necessarily have to be used in chanoyu to be appreciated and enjoyed on a different level than through its use. Think of a great Faberge egg, is it a bookend, paperweight, doorstop? Its entire reason for being is in its appreciation and beauty.

I am in complete agreement with Yanagi’s statement; beauty born of use, but believe the use of an object can be the simple impact it has on one’s daily life.

(Illustrated a Kuro-Iga chawan by Kojima Kenji and an Iga chaire by Furutani Michio (1946-2000), both from a private collection)

MONDAY BLUES

Recently I have been playing with the combination of my version of a toruko-ao glaze over my neriage. At first, there were a few stumbling blocks but those seem to have been solved. This glaze has taken a complete metamorphosis since I originally got the recipe from Colin Pearson back in the mid-90s. I embarked on the task of morphing the glaze into a vellum style Persian blue glaze (toruko-ao) that was very influenced by the work of Kato Kenji

This glaze started out as a semi-opaque copper blue glaze which ran like the dickens and was splotchy and uneven despite a careful application. Over the years it has been altered so much, that the current recipe does not even resemble the original in content or percentages. The current version, TA-Variation-56s, can be used thin or thick without running and now works well over various underglaze slips as well as the cobalt rich black neriage porcelain I use.

Aside from the luminous quality of the glaze, the richness of the blue has a timeless and ancient quality to it. It seemed only fitting that I used it over the black & white neriage pots I have been making which are influenced by suminagashi style paper marbling. The real appeal of these pots though, is the cool and inviting softness of the vellum glaze texture. It has a feel unlike any other glaze texture I know and is truly enjoyable in the hand. It would seem to be the perfect Monday blues……………

(Illustrated are four teabowls and a close-up of a bowl, unloaded from a kiln this morning)

SIMPLE FORM

I have been interested in chawan and more specifically Shigaraki and Iga chawan for a long while. Though there is a myriad of shapes, it is the tsutsu-gata, cylindrical form that I am very fond of. The concept of the cylinder would seem somewhat defined and finite, but there are a number of Japanese potters who make the simple form so articulated and animated and distinctly their own in a nearly infinite variety of subtle interpretations.

This anonymous Iga chawan has a wonderfully glassy surface which at some point in the past, covered the makers mark and now the identity of the potter is lost. The robust form was fired on its side on clamshells and has compressed a bit to alter the tapering cylinder. The shallow glass coating is all running to the clamshell marks left, fossilized from the firing. The play of the horizontal glass running opposed to the verticality of the form is frozen in a moment when the chawan was pulled from the hot kiln, hikidashi style to cool and freeze the surface forever.

The second chawan is an older Shigaraki piece by pottery maestro Tsujimura Shiro. The surface is the opposite of the previous chawan, showing minimal natural ash deposits, rather favoring the rich hi-iro fire color that accentuates the wonderful posture and form of the bowl. The “wonky” lip just adds to the motion of the form and beckons the viewer to look within the chawan. What will you discover?

HANDLES

I finally got around to throwing the last pieces for my next firing, a group of large pitchers. The inevitable part of throwing pitchers is that you have to put handles on them. After waiting forever for them to firm up, I pulled a group of handles, with two extras and set about putting the handles on the pots. I pull the handles first, though sometimes I pull the handles off smaller pitchers. In this case, I pull the handles first, attach it and finish pulling it on the pot.

The whole process of then fusing over the handles is just a pain. I probably would be less particular if I didn’t have to meet up to a standard I have set. For pitchers, especially, I measure my work against Bill Klock, Warren MacKenzie and several of the British pitcher makers. I think by doing this, it keeps my work honest and gives me the push to make each pot better than the last and distinctly my own thing.

My original intention was to throw larger pitchers, but a last minute addition to the firing, a group of 5” tall serving bowls, has altered my original plan for 17” tall pitchers and reduced them to just under 15” wet. Doesn’t sound like much, but in the end, it will help me load another full, cramped and well planned out firing. Just two more handles to put on…………..

THROWN SLABS

While in Japan I was fortunate to see a demo by Koie Ryoji. In the demo he threw a bottomless rough cylinder and when it firmed up just a bit, he cut it off the wheel, cut through on side and stretched it out to make a long, flatish “slab” plate. It was a very interesting use of the wheel.

I have used the same technique on and off for some time and have also at times taken it just a bit further. Once I have thrown the cylinder, without any tools and leaving rough throwing marks, I wait for the clay to firm up and then cut it into five or six equal pieces. I then occasionally add feet and have a set of matched plates. The throwing marks and some added distress to the surface makes for very tactile and user friendly pieces. I use my Oribe glaze quite a bit with this technique, but also works well with ash or amber glazes.

SIMPLICITY

“My Pots are not about risk taking. They are about serenity-clarity-simplicity. Some people climb mountains, I like to walk through meadows of wildflowers.”

Excerpt from the artist statement of David Shaner (1934-2002), a generous teacher, pioneer and potter.

A simple wood fired teabowl by David Shaner, circa 1995.

BOWLS, BOWLS & MORE BOWLS

As I am working in a new cycle, I have decided to limit the number of bowls I make for the next firing to see how I can manage the kiln space without those ubiquitous forms. I have already thrown a group of 12” U bowls and that is where I draw the line, well maybe a teabowl or two and who knows what else could come up, maybe a last minute order (one can hope). I guess the cards will fall as they may.

The reason for this restriction on bowls is that it has occurred to me what a large percentage bowls are of my total output. Though I make a lot of covered jars, lidded serving pieces, plates, teapots, bottles and vases, bowls seem to be the ever present form that helps plan and fill each kiln, fill orders, fill commission orders and are special ordered. I make a wide variety of bowls as teabowls, soup bowls, catch all bowls, pasta bowls, wall bowls, salad bowls and every other bowl you can think of including popcorn bowls. They are not all round, some are lobed, squared, faceted, pierced and so on, but they are still bowls.

After the countless thousands of bowls I have made, you would think I would be tired of making such forms, but honestly no. Like any other form, the bowl makes for a rich surface and space to work with. In reality, were would we be without bowls? They have served man well for thousands of years and the bowl is certainly far better off being of any form of handmade pottery than out of some vacuum injected plastic or other lifeless material. I am glad I make bowls and maybe will make a few more to fill the nooks and crannies of my next firing……………..

(One set of four temmoku and medieval green soup bowls from the last firing)