THIS IS MY BUSY DAY

“Time cuts down all, both great and small.” (Anon.)

Today was one of those days, too many tasks and too little time. Making up several slips, trimming some teabowls, slipping those teabowls, throwing a group of Ming style bowls, a quick lunch with the wife, throwing several jars and lids, reading and sending emails, packing up two pots, taking pictures and the day is gone. For today, 36000 seconds ticked away as another work day comes to its end. There were things yet to do, two glazes to make up, several test glazes as well, they will just have to wait.

Today was my busy day. I have little doubt, tomorrow will be the same.

QUICK WATSON!

So every once and a while, the whole pottery thing just needs to throw out a curve ball, today was that day. Juggling chemistry, alchemy and the duties of Sherlock Holmes, coming up with glazes and even simple glazing has a way of going sideways. By looking at the illustration, you can see something is just not right and is certainly not going in the kiln.

So, here is what I know, the glaze in question is a test glaze, made up as a phase two test (1000 grams) about a month or so ago. I had already glazed 4 or 5 yunomi in this exact glaze and fired it in a low-fire, slip ware firing, again, about a month ago. Fast forward to this morning, I decided to glaze up the test yunomi I threw last week, using the same clay and slips I have been using for years. The test glaze in question, stored in an airtight container, is mixed up and I dip three yunomi in the glaze. Minutes later, the crackling appears on the glaze and some pieces of glaze even peel off. The last time I saw this happen was back at CSU when a student was mixing up small batches of test glazes and forgot the main ingredient.

As I mentioned, this glaze has already performed well in the last firing and there are absolutely no variables. So what gives? The formula is primarily three main ingredients; 3110 frit, kaolin and flint and I am somewhat stumped. I once had someone, I forget who, suggest this was a possible electrolytic reaction, but I dismissed this as my science background is somewhat murky and lacking. This formula is an original “book recipe” and now you can see why I tend to steer clear of those. It worked one minute and not one month later.

I would welcome any input or thoughts or similar situations and pending further “clues”, I am going to make up another 50 gram batch and test it in this firing and then will try to test it again in a month. Maybe it expired? I have seen recipes that say; “use as soon as you make it up”, but I have never had a glaze with an expiration date! In fact, I have reconstituted glazes that were dried out and rock hard for as long as 5 years and they worked perfectly fine.

All in all, just another typical pottery Monday.

ROLLING HILLS

When I first started seriously studying Japanese art, I was instantly taken by the presence and baring of the Raku wares of Hon’ami Koetsu (1558-1637) and Raku Chojiro (?-1592). Over time I made every attempt to see and study the mainline Raku pieces which included several trips to see Raku Kichizaemon XV and the Raku Museum. What really fascinated me about these early masterpieces was the posture of the bowls and the undulating termination of the lip. As a burgeoning potter, I made various attempts to create a roving lip, reminiscent of roving hills through various means of removing clay, or throwing an irregular lip. The sheer simplicity of appearance is easily shattered as you try this for yourself.

Several years later, I found the answer to my lip conundrum in the oddest of places, a print gallery. At a show of prints (circa 1994), I was captivated by the vibrant, lush green mezzotints of rolling hills and meadows by Honda Kazuhisa (b. 1948). The way in which he layered his rolling hills gave me the idea to alter the lips on my teabowls. It seemed an odd place to find an answer to a pottery question, but by studying a variety of his prints, I could see the soft rolling hills transplanted to the lip of my bowl.

In time, the bowl shape itself has evolved to a simple and broad form, resembling a brandy snifter, prior to altering it. The lip is cut and smoothed with the body of the bowl being pushed slightly oval to present a broader face to the user, creating a good surface to drink from. This allows the bowl to be used from the intended front or the back. In the end, the bowl reminds me of a freshly harvested melon, cut open and enjoyed in the field. The soft curves of the bowl are a visual mobius loop, bringing the viewer’s eye round the bowl until it plunges into the form.

The first illustrated teabowl came out of my 2/24/11 firing and is glazed in my temmoku and partridge feather glaze and was applied to match and accentuate the curves of the lip. The above teabowl was made sometime last fall and is glazed in my haiyu glaze over a kushime decoration.

UTILITY?

“In the old days people didn’t worry about how a pot looked,” said Sataro-san. “They didn’t worry about if it was black or brown, as long as you could use it. In the old days kuromon was made for you or me, for everyone! Now people (ie; potters) want to make fancy pots – modern pottery – I don’t understand it.”

I have thought about this comment from the Leila Philip book, THE ROAD THROUGH MIYAMA, for quite a while. Over time, I have come to understand that with the industrial revolution, the art of the hand made has changed to aesthetic consideration first, utility second. With the mechanized creation of pottery, many considerations that were a priori are now outdated, even anachronistic. The advent of the “art potter” has driven most potters to create work that defines them and calls out for individual attention and distinction. As the necessity of utility has been stripped away, a potter could stretch his wings and push the horizons of the possible. This may be both the positive and negative aspects of making pottery in the modern age.

“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.”
Oscar Wilde

(Illustrated is a pierced Oribe influenced fruit bowl that I threw and glazed in my medieval green glaze.)

IT’S ALL IN THE ATTITUDE II

Illustrated is gestural medieval meets modern Shigaraki chawan by Oda Minoru. It contrasts greatly against the mizusashi by him (from another blog entry) that is primarily hi-iro coloring. This chawan has a wonderfully measured stance and attitude and is coated in ash on the face and back wall of the piece. The firing has darkened the pot to a rich chocolaty brown with a wet (uroi) sheen about the form.

It is the casual attitude of this pot that really interests me. It appears to have just happened and rests very loosely on the foot like a pedestal. The attitude of the chawan just begs to be handled without any ritual or formality, the sense of touch completing its purpose. Good Shigaraki and Iga wares just defy time and many seem that they could have been made centuries ago or speaking out at this present moment.

IPTV; THROWING A HIGH WALLED TEABOWL

Here is another quick video of me throwing a high walled, tsutsu-gata style teabowl off the hump, using less than 2 pounds;

NOT POTTERY RELATED HUMOR

Here is a little bit of humor for St. Patrick's Day. Not 100% appropriate, but I have always found it 100% funny;

A WEE BIT-O-GREEN

Having grown up in a town with three large industrial plants, a large air force base and a state university, Plattsburgh, NY was always a festive place on St. Patrick’s Day. In my youth, I imagined Plattsburgh on March 17th to be like a smaller version of Mardi gras and even Playboy magazine agreed, naming Plattsburgh as one of the places to be on that day of green beer and unbridled debauchery all in the name of an Irish saint. Though neither my wife nor I are Irish, we have taken the day to heart and now celebrate it in a somewhat sedate way with a few Irish beers and a retelling of that classic John Ford film, THE QUIET MAN (1952).

Illustrated to honor the traditional green of St. Patrick’s Day is an Oribe chawan by one of the best potters to embrace the Momoyama revival, Suzuki Goro. This large wonky chawan has broad areas of Oribe green glaze splashed over the surface and embodies the meeting of the old and the new. Suzuki Goro is a master of various styles of Oribe as well as Ki-Seto, Seto-Guro and Shino. His ability to present such a happenstance style chawan belies the great skill it takes to manipulate a piece in such a naturalistic manner. For pottery lovers, maybe it really is a “pot” (like this chawan) at the end of the rainbow………..

(A large number and variety of Suzuki Goro’s works can be seen on David Callens’ website;

http://www.trocadero.com/Dabido/catalog.html

Just type in “Suzuki Goro” for a search.)

A STARTING POINT

When I first started in ceramics back in the days of the alchemists, there was very little to go on if one was determined to make traditionally influenced Japanese style glazes. There were scattered articles and a few books (thank you Nigel Wood, Robert Tichane and Joseph Grebanier) but the place that really got me started was a Ceramics Monthly (2/1977) article entitled; JAPANESE ASH GLAZES by Sasaki Hiroshi. Early on, I used his formulas as the basis for my experiments and with testing, trial & error and altering the formulas; I was able to come up with a nice haiyu ash glaze, a great Oribe, a traditional Shino and a nice Ki-Seto as well.

Please bear in mind, from my perspective these formulas are starting points and after initial testing, you can make judgments as to how to proceed. I also tested most of these glazes between Cone 7 and Cone 10 and also fired them in both neutral and reduction atmosphere. Lastly, once you find a rice straw source to make your ash, it is possible to experiment and come up with a very serviceable nuka-yu glaze.

DOBAI-YU
Wood ash 30 to 50 parts
Feldspar 70 parts

AME-YU
Wood ash 60
Rice straw ash 10
Feldspar 30

BIDORO-YU
Wood ash 40
Feldspar 60
Zinc 5

ORIBE-YU
Wood ash 50
Feldspar 50
Copper ox. 4

KI-SETO-YU
Wood ash 50
Rice straw ash 10
Feldspar 40
Red Iron Ox. 1 to 2%

(a little pinch of CMC in all the glazes helps with adhesion and is recommended)

Illustrated is the interior of a teabowl with an altered bidoro-yu over a Shino glaze. This particular version always produces nice green glass pools on the interior and runny drips (tombo-me) on the exterior.

EARTHQUAKE IN JAPAN

A huge earthquake measuring 8.9, triggering a tsunami has hit the north-eastern coast of the main island of Japan. Scores are dead and missing and there is an extensive amount of damage through out the region and up and down the coast.

All of our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and those affected.

MOMOYAMA REVIVALIST

“Every pot you make must be your own original creation. It should not be a mere arrangement of old techniques. You see, we are living in this world of today, so therefore we must use the fire of today and sing the song of today. It sounds easy, but it is a very hard thing to do.”

“Shino wares were first created in the Momoyama era, a time of great creative impetus which suddenly vanished. Shino wares created amid the natural beauty of Mino, earned a reputation as the king of ceramics and I would like to bring that tradition back to life. But mine is the modern age, and I would like that fact to come out in my design and plastic art. Above all, I want to mix modern styles with the traditional Japanese sense of beauty as it is presented in the Nezumi-Shino.”* Wakao Toshisada

Illustrated is a Nezumi-Shino chawan by Wakao Toshisada (b. 1933) which clearly shows the revival of the Momoyama aesthetic. Though well known for his creative use of Shino glazes and Rimpa influenced designs, his work as a modern traditional Mino potter is exceptional. His minimalist designs are used to make maximum use of space echoing back to the monochrome ink painters of the Momoyama era. As he very carefully points out and makes use of his own insights, his work is solidly based on an earlier archetype, but his pottery shows the characteristics of a modern day potter.

(*Quoted from MINO; 30 Anniversary DMCAA)

RELUCTANT

I went to Syracuse last Friday to pick up clay and glaze materials to beat the incoming snowstorm and to replenish some inventory depleted during the winter months. While there, the guy getting my stuff asked if I was a “thrower”. I said “Yes, I am a thrower” and then asked about hand building to which I answered; “yeah I hand build as well but I am a reluctant participant”. This got me thinking about when I did start hand building, certainly not at Cleveland State despite the urging of Dick Schneider.

A long while back, I hurt my left hand, specifically my index and middle fingers. I damaged the nerves and ligaments and on top of that, I got a rather bad infection. The doctor was very clear, no throwing for quite a while and depending on the extent of the injury, I may not throw again. This news was certainly not well received and after less than a week without throwing, I started getting very irritable and antsy to work with clay. I started doodling up some ideas for potential hand built pieces and was at it the very next day.

Luckily I had a slab roller for the hump molded plates and trays I make. This made the whole process a bit easier. Working with a purpose and careful not to use my left hand, I set about building teapot after teapot for decorating in various surfaces. By the third week or so, my hand building skills improving, I started making these large house boxes (hauskasten). During this period, I made almost 200 hand built pieces in three temperature ranges and a half dozen surfaces. Though I was dragged into hand building by absolute necessity, a very reluctant partner in the process, I have continued to hand build to this day. I guess it is true; every cloud does have a silver lining.

(Illustrated is a “RunningMan” teapot which measures about 16” x 16” x 2” and a “LandscapeMan” lidded house box which measures about 20” tall. Both are inlaid engobe into my ishime-ji surface. The teapot, which is fully functional, was included in two national juried exhibits of teapots and illustrated in the book; HANDBUILT CERAMICS by Kathy Triplet. The housebox was also in an exhibit; The Tea Party at GBF Gallery in Cleveland, Ohio.)

KAKUREZAKI RYUICHI

There has been much written about Kakurezaki Ryuichi (b. 1950), so I will skip most of the details. He studied with Isezaki Jun, current Juyo Mukei Bunkazai for Bizen-yaki and set off to establish his own kiln in 1985. Many consider this move to have ushered in what is now referred to as Heisei Bizen (the Heisei era started in 1989). Though Kakurezaki’s pottery is decidedly Bizen in tradition, style and firing, his works are unlike any other Bizen potter. His works challenge the concepts of classical and traditional form and it is really not easy to put Kakurezaki’s work within the Bizen tradition.

By looking at this chawan, it would seem that Kakurezaki has an intuitive geometrical formula running through his being. Many of his forms, this chawan included, shows a wonderful sense of proportion and planes and angles that work so well with how he fires his kiln. His works play with visual geometry and challenge the concepts of classical and traditional form. When you combine his constructed vocabulary with his unique approach to firing, it is easy to see why his works can easily be picked out of a crowd.

The illustrated chawan is an excellent example of his intense and successful firing technique together with his broad planes that are accentuated by the running ash. The kodai is cleverly cut to address the issue of geometry and in this case, mimics the form of the bowl. No matter how you look at it, this is a cutting edge and dynamic chawan.

BEFORE & AFTER

In the continued effort to become a multi-media conglomerate under the I,POTTER Ltd umbrella, I shot this short video a couple weeks back while throwing a few teabowls and other smalls for the last firing. In the video, I am throwing a take-gata form teabowl off the hump.


As for the way I throw, I am a natural left hander, despite 12 years of parochial school dis-education. Despite being a left hander, which I use for writing and eating, nearly everything else is done with my right hand from using a hammer to throwing a football. I have Sister Paulette to thank for this quirk. Long before I started to make pots, any potter I had seen was right handed, so when I started throwing, everyone around was also right handed, so the technique I picked up was a mixture of predominantly right handed throwing with some left handed tendencies thrown in. This may explain why I throw the way I do.


The teabowl thrown in the video is also illustrated in its finished state. The bowl was stamped while still wet and then later glazed in my temmoku and tetsu partridge feather glaze.