EMPTY BOWL

“Clay is molded to make a vessel, but the utility of the vessel lies in the space where there is nothing… Thus, taking advantage of what is, we recognize the utility of what is not.” Lao Tzu

ANOTHER FIRING

Unloaded the glaze yesterday and was mostly pleased with the results. There were a few stand outs, a nice katazome style covered jar and two pitchers as well as a really nice cylindrical vase, also in katazome style in my Ao glaze. I have been trying to blend the glazing in each firing to include the temmoku, haiyu, medieval green, TP clear and the Ao to make for a visual variety.

I am currently working on a few gallery orders as well as pots for several seasonal/holiday shows, so I will be working in terra cotta, stoneware and porcelain. The terra cotta pieces will concentrate on slipware and painted abstract resist and tebori carved slip. Though I like to work in terra cotta, throwing clay with less body than porcelain has its moments and demands its due.

Illustrated are two temmoku & haiyu stamped pitchers and an Ao katazome style cap jar with bloesem panels around the form.

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)