SHORTCUT

I was working on cleaning up some images of the Kato Tsuneyoshi Mino-Iga mizusashi that I had taken on the path to building a slideshow video of the piece and came across this image. Though this pot has a great deal of rich green ash areas it is on the lid where it really shines; deep, emerald green pools that look like a mineral cluster or outcroppings any adventurer would be thrilled to stumble upon. I have to admit, I am more than smitten with this effect both shizen, all natural in its occurrence as well as through some artifice of technology though it is all the more impressive when it happens through the intensity of the firing and astute choice of varying woods. In either method it still appears as if some guiding provenance has touched the pot and created a surface that one can get lost in and spend any amount of time in some degree of contemplation. There it is, a wonderful shortcut, just a simple arrangement of a handful of certain chemicals, elements collected to create an effect as close to perfect as my eye can see and unlike actual emeralds you can forego the extreme temperatures, dynamic pressure and the millions of years in the making.