IRON IN THE FIRE

I fired the BK, my big kiln last week and this is my second firing with my new partridge feather glaze(PF) on some of the pots. As I was waiting on the pots to dry and bisque, I was reminded of comments made by Tsukigata Nahiko about controlling the iron as a means to controlling a glaze surface. This got me thinking and I altered the PF glaze a bit as well as using it just a bit thinner.

Against all sane judgment, I used the new batch of glaze on a group of pots and the results were fairly different than the original PF surface. Though related, the second version shows a remarkable amount of iron variations in the running/streaking as well showing a large number of what appear to be red iron and pyrite specks across the surface. I am wondering if I can control these by trying to slow down the cooling. I guess one thing leads to another………

IPTV; KOIE RYOJI THROWING A SLAB

A while back I posted about a thrown slab technique, I learned from a demo by Koie Ryoji. My plates were a group of 5 Oribe small footed plates that were thrown on the wheel and cut to 5 equal parts. In looking around, I found a video of Koie demonstrating that technique at the V&A in England and thought to share it. It really is a versatile technique and the potential and possibilities are limitless.



(Many thanks to the original poster of this video.)

PROPRIETARY TECHNOLOGY

Since I started making pottery, I have always been curious about how potters feel about sharing their formulas. Some potters share freely and most generously, others a bit begrudgingly so and certainly others not at all. I have always been fairly generous with glaze and clay recipes, though there are always some I hold back. Over the years, I have developed 15 to 20 glazes that I consider my own from start to finish. They didn’t originate from known formulas or are so far removed from the origin, that I consider them originals. These are the formulas I am most “secretive” with, though I have probably shared more than half of these with friends or have traded them away for other interesting glazes.

A few years back there was this novice potter who hounded me on a regular basis to share with her a glaze and firing technique I was using. The glaze was a really pretty candy apple red glaze that I was actually fine tuning and trying to figure out how best to use it. In time, I relented in my very own and peculiar way. I asked her if she would like me to throw the pots, decorate them, bisque and glaze them and then call her to come over and sign them, “Okay” she said. I was dumb-founded.

Not too long ago, I was working in a friend’s studio. I had brought a handful of porcelain teabowls and some stoneware covered jars and a few teapots. Bringing these, I sort of wrote them off as I would be using her glazes, though I brought my best black glaze, BBV3-92, which has a tendency to oilspot over some glazes. Before I started glazing, she told me she was going to fire for an almost entirely red glazes kiln. I figured in for a penny, in for a pound and decided I would glaze in the one of the red glazes and my black glaze. During the middle of the firing, she was called into work and asks if I can finish firing the kiln. “No problem” says I and I proceed to reduce the bejezzus out of the 80cft down draft.

I show up a week or so later and I see my pots on the table and they came out rather nice. I asked her for the “red” formula and she just smirked, went over to her notes, wrote down the formula and then, picking up a large black magic marker, redacted the materials, leaving only the percentages. I asked her if she worked for the CIA and another smirk, I take the formula to the window and there you can see the entire formula, much to her chagrin. In return, she asked for my black glaze formula, again, “No problem”. I mailed it to her the next day, properly redacted; sure she would not be able to read the materials, just the percentages. Later on, way later on, I sent her the formula.

Illustrated is a porcelain teabowl glazed in the Chun Red and my BBV3-93 and a closeup of the same glaze combo on a stoneware teapot.

AN ENSO CHAWAN

Illustrated is a dramatic Hagi chawan with an eccentric enso painted on the front. The vivid Hagi keshiki makes a wonderful ground for the elliptical format enso painted by Buddhist priest Shimizu Kosho (1911-1999). The chawan was made by legendary Hagi potter, Tahara Tobei XII (1925-1991) who has left an exceptional body of work, this certainly being a highlight.

Shimizu Kosho was prolific and diverse artist, known for his wonderful calligraphies and paintings; he also made sculpture in various medium and painted on a large number of pottery, many made by master potters of the day as in this example. Shimizu was for a short while the abbot of the Todai-ji in Nara (1975-1981). This chawan is a typical and masterful collaboration between two artists who have transcended their art and materials. The dark enso against the multi-toned Hagi glaze makes for a lyrical and majestic piece.

RUNNY PROSPECTS

I really like the period of time after I develop a new glaze to work with that fits my visual interests and the forms I am working with. It starts out slow, I test the glaze by itself and with other glazes from pod, to yunomi to teabowl and on to larger pieces. As I get feedback from the firings, I adjust the glaze and decide what works and what doesn’t and keep as many notes as possible together with digital images.

For the partridge feather glaze, since it is fairly refractory on its own, the best combination so far is over the temmoku glaze, though it is interesting over an oatmeal matt, a clear glaze and an amber glaze as well. I have been playing with varying thicknesses of the glaze and am finding that I can alter the length of the feathering depending on how thick the glaze is applied. Recently, I have tried applying the glaze fairly thin over wax resisted patterns and am finding that, that makes for an interesting surface as well.

The illustrated bowl was from my last firing a couple of weeks ago and shows the thinned version of the glaze and the pattern on a teabowl. I have been throwing towards another glaze firing and will hopefully bisque by the middle of next week. The pieces were thrown to try out more pieces in the temmoku and partridge feather combo along with some other glazes. There are several pieces thrown specifically as tests for these glazes and I am looking forward to the result. I always like this period of time, it almost makes you think the possibilities are nearly endless.

IPTV; KOHYAMA & MENTORI

Here is a rather short, but interesting video of Kohyama Yasuhisa faceting (mentori) one of his “wind“ (kaze) objects in his Iori-gama studio near Shigaraki. As you can see, he is rather well versed at doing this, his cuts are intuitive and direct. The outcome is wonderful and creates a great keshiki after they are fired.

(This video is not of the highest quality as it was converted from VHS video to a digital video file by me. It was originally taken in the spring of 1993 while I was working with Kohyama-sensei.)

TRADITION

“Respect old things. Experience those old things. But take the old outer shell away and create something new from it. This is the nature of ‘traditions’.”

Kato Takuo

A SHADOW SET

I was in the midst of making pieces for a special order when I was finishing my tests with the new partridge feather glaze. As the set was not even bisqued yet, the customer asked if I could use the new glaze on the pieces instead of my haiyu glaze. As a common practice, I sometimes make a “shadow set” of an order and that is what I did for this set. I made two mizusashi and two chawan. Once they were fired I let the client know they could have their pick of the pieces and I would sell the other set.

This set of “matched” chawan and mizusashi are based on the same form with impressed decoration and are glazed in a temmoku glaze with the partridge glaze over. I made two lids for the mizusashi to create two varying looks, one just temmoku and the other temmoku and the with partridge feather accents. Both pieces exhibit a fluid running pattern with varying golden, copper and iron tones about the surface. The impressed marks seem to have run more than the rest of the surface and are nice focal points that break up the surface. The set was intended to have a 50’s kind of visage and looking at them now, I think they hit the mark.

More pictures of the set can be seen on my Trocadero marketplace;
http://www.trocadero.com/albedo3studio/items/1058476/item1058476store.html#item

CONJECTURE

There is a chawan in the Cleveland Museum of Art, a study in the stark and simple, though inviting none the less. The chawan I am referring to is an early 17th century Shigaraki piece that was obviously made specifically for the purpose of tea. At first glance, it appears ordinary and unassuming, study it a bit more and its presence takes hold like a hypnotist conveying the sense of “Tea” and the medieval to the viewer. This is a unique work, made during the infancy of chanoyu in the early years when the rules of tea ceremony, etiquette and pottery were being codified. Despite when it was made, nearly 400 years ago, it stands the test of time and still fulfills its function as the center piece of the tea ritual.

It is a simple work and it is exceedingly difficult to make a simple pot a great pot. It is subtle, serene and contemplative in nature. The subtleties can maintain a dialogue as times change and it is viewed with new eyes. It is the essential wabi/sabi pot and is austere and noble. It appears as a near perfect construct of the various elements that make up a pot, in this case a chawan, with none out of balance or superfluous. In many ways, it is a perfect chawan

Over the many years of studying this chawan, I have often pondered its origin. The scenarios are many, but certain elements are fixed fast in my mind. There is this Shigaraki potter and part time farmer who I have always envisioned as the potter from Ugetsu. One day he is visited by a gentleman from the old capital, Kyoto. He asks this potter, have you heard of this new fashion, the tea ceremony? The mostly isolated valley potter has not and inquires after more information. The visitor explains the broad concept and steps and even about the hacked up piece of bamboo (chasen). He thanks the man for the info and goes back to wedging his clay.

Time passes and this potter takes every opportunity to study chawan when he brings his wares to Kyoto. He examines the clay, glazes, forms, feet and interiors. Very little of what he observes fits the tactile, rough and unglazed Shigaraki clay and pottery. More time passes and as he is making soba-choko, the form begins to materialize, along with the foot. After numerous attempts, the high walled, straight sided Shigaraki chawan emerges. It exudes strength and its feel is wonderful. In time, many of the Shigaraki potters are making various pots for chanoyu, though there can be only one CMA chawan and the anonymous potter who made it.

(I searched around for a photograph of this chawan, but unfortunately the only image is held by the CMA and copyrighted. This chawan can be seen in the STUDIO POTTER Vol. 19, No. 2 on page 28)

MENTORI

I wrote about Kohyama Yasuhisa last week and thought to show a piece by him that exhibits the classic characteristics of his works. This mentori, faceted “object” is about 12” tall if my memory serves me well and the front and back show very different styles of his mentori techniques. The rear has two angled planes that were very deliberately faceted by pulling down a wire with a rocking motion on each. The front shows his classic tool drag down the middle of the face of the pot which creates a very tense point of attraction to the piece.

Though the piece appears to be charcoal grey in color, it actually has a soft, off green appearance of ash that wets the surface in some areas together with coloration created by his sueki style firing and the pots having charcoal beds built up around them. This piece was made in the early 90’s and shows a style that has pushed beyond Shigaraki traditional pottery to add to the lexicon of anagama fired possibilities in the Valley.

I’M READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP

For anyone following or reading my blog and website, it must be apparent; my photographic skills are less that I would like them to be. For many of my pots, the glazes surfaces are a bit more complex that my photographs may convey. With my new partridge feather glaze, I have been trying to capture what it really looks like in person and maybe this close-up does the job. The glaze is very runny and where it terminates it rolls and also creates large droplets which cling to the pieces. As you can see, it has a variety of copper and iron tones and looks great over my temmoku glazes.

To finish out the week, I thought I would respond to a query regarding Albany Slip glazes. A potter emailed and asked if I had a good Albany Slip replacement glaze. I am unsure where this formula originates from, but it is a really great glaze;

NEW AMBER CELADON Cone 9/10
Alberta Slip 33
Custer Spar 20
Flint 14
Wollastonite 13
Whiting 7
Gerstley Borate 3
Kaolin 3
Yellow ochre 7
Bent 6

To be fair, I have modified this glaze (NAC 11-17) for my own use a bit and add some Red Art and a bit of wood ash to the recipe for more interest. It is worth playing with.

IPTV; KOHYAMA YASUHISA

Here is a short video, but a good visual introduction to Shigaraki master potter, Kohyama Yasuhisa (1936). Kohyama-san was the first potter to build an anagama in the Shigaraki valley since the middle ages and his work and firing techniques are unquestionably a blend of the old and the very new. His works have been collected by museums around the world.

I was very fortunate to study and work with Kohyama-sensei for a while in Japan in 1993 as well as spending time with him at the Cleveland Institute of Art and Kent State University while he was a visiting artist here in the US. I was there through his preparation for a major show in the Netherlands and participated in firing his anagama kiln. It certainly was a wonderful experience and one I will never forget.

This short and somewhat grainy video was shot at SOFA, New York in 2008.



There is a very nice article on Kohyama-san that can be seen on Steve Beimel’s weblog;
http://www.japanlivingarts.com/?p=1736