Over Asia and back Again: Artists Blog in Japan

More Incense holders

2011-07-15T10:35:00.013+09:00

I had a lot of stuff come out of bisque firing this week. From the left is my medium sized rectangle vase (Red stone clay), top is the small pie pan and two teapots.(Nabe clay) Far top right is a small pitcher, (red stone clay) and the rest are the 14 incense holders. (Red shigaraki) I didn't manage to glaze all of these last night but I got to the holders and vase.

Here are the three colors I chose for the vase. I decided to do each level of the vase a different color. The far right is the base, B glaze. Middle is J and top is K. I also did a light mist of L at the very top. I have not used this color combo before on red stone clay so I hope it'll turn out well. RF firing. (The samples are red shigaraki which is kind of similar to red stone) I used the air gun to glaze.

After the vase I got around to the incense holders. By that time it was dark outside so I took a big lamp outside and arranged the holders on a board.

This is the glaze air gun. Pretty easy to use, cup on the top for the glaze and the standard handle and spout. I used 6 different glazes last night between my vase and incense holders so it was a pain having to clean this thing between every color.

Here they are after glazing. If you're going to do several things the same color and pattern it's easiest to line them up to get the same effect.

Here are a few up close. I did a combo of three glazes. Top is E glaze, middle K and bottom L.

Here are the sample colors. Left to right, E, K and L. I'll OF fire the holders.

I also prepared my napkin rings for firing. To get an even glaze they have to be glazed like this. The rods are a special metal with a specific coating so they won't stick. I've never done this before so I have no idea how they will turn out, but Arai Sensei said they should be fine but may turn out slightly oval.

Here is an up close picture, you can see the coating on the rod.

Last but not least is my giant vase! It's finally been bisque fired. It turned out perfect, but the tough part will from now. Choosing the right color and hoping it turns out wonderful will be nerve racking. All the time and energy spent on this vase could be ruined if the glaze isn't done right or doesn't turn out well...I'll be choosing a color soon...Here's hoping it turns out great!!!

Until next time!

Incense holders

2011-07-14T08:19:00.006+09:00

20 of my black stone clay incense holders have been bisque fired so I sanded and glazed them last night.

I decided to use the air gun to apply the glaze since I wanted a gradual color change.

Here are my two color choices. Left is R a nice white glaze with purple/blue undertones. To the right is K glaze which will turn into a nice mild blue. The left is where the incense sticks will go through a hole and burn over the board. I actually wanted L glaze but in a heat daze I somehow picked the K glaze bucket instead and didn't realize it until I was done air glazing. Oops...but I think this color combo should turn out well either way :) They will be RF fired

I also air glazed some napkin rings and chopstick holders I made at home last month. The rings will be difficult to glaze but they should turn out fine. I did R glaze for all of them.

I made 9 napkin rings

2 fish chopstick holders

2 simple chopstick holders

2 braided chopstick holders.

I also glazed a few leftover cups and a bowl.

This cup is red shigaraki with R and B glaze combo, RF firing

Another cup, outside U, inside K glaze, RF firing

Last is a small bowl, red stone clay. U glaze with R glaze accent on the rim, RF firing

Only 2 more weeks! Until next time!

Coffee Cups

2011-07-08T09:23:00.006+09:00

I got back 4 cups and 2 plates from glazing last night. All the pieces are red shigaraki with various glaze combos. They all turned out very well. All were OF fired.

Left is B glaze with X on the inside. Right is S glaze on the outside dipped in R on the rim.

Left: glaze K with R glaze dip (Handle)
Right: inside R, outside B glaze (My fav cup of the four)

Two small plates, inside glaze X

Outside B glaze

I also got around to glazing this shallow vase I made awhile back

It's red shigaraki clay. I decided to do X glaze on the inside, E glaze on the outside (red metallic color) and A glaze accent (blue) on the inside.

Here is a shot of the colors before I glazing.

Outside shot

Inside shot: The gray splatters are A glaze, this is a new combo for me so we'll see how it turns out...can't wait! This will be OF fired.

Since I won't be around this weekend I also carved my bizen vase I made on Tues. It was a little too soft but I managed to get it done. It's hard to tell but I did a stair like design on the bottom. This will dry for awhile and go into the noborigama in Fall.

I also made 14 more incense holders with left over red stone, red shigaraki and bizen clay. I was running late so I didn't have time to take pictures but they look exactly the same as my previous 20 incense holders, just a different color. Those will dry for about three days and get fired.

See you next week!

New Vase

2011-07-06T10:34:00.006+09:00

I made another small pie pan with my leftover nabe clay. It was much harder this time around since the clay only had a few days to "rest" (ideally 2 weeks is best) so it was lumpy and inconsistent. I managed to make the pan, but it had thick spots. After carving it looked much better and it's hard to tell but it isn't a perfect circle like my first.

Here is a pic of it with the handles attached. For now it will dry in a box for a few days and then wait for bisque firing. My nabe clay is officially gone now but I sure got a lot out of 10kg.

1 large pie pan
1 small pie pan
2 s/m tea pots
1 small hot pot with lid

I also carved this small pitcher I made on Sunday. It's a mix of leftover clays, mostly red and black stone. I'll most likely use it as a sauce holder for dressings and such. I love the shape, very classic. One of the other students thought it was an American sized coffee cup until they saw the spout haha.

I still had 20kg of bizen clay left...and what's the best way to use it up quick? Making big vases!
Here is a bizen clay 5kg vase.

I originally was going for tall and lean but alas my vases never quite turn out how I want them to in the beginning. So of course I went with the flow and made a wide shorter style instead.

I made the top too thin so it started to flop, but before it turned for the worse I stopped and made it apart of the design instead. I actually really like how it turned out in the end and it was good wheel practice. The hard part is going to be carving this thing. It's a strange shape and will need a special long bucket or wood block to hold it up while I carve the bottom. I'll have to make a trip to the hardware and dollar store to find something.

This vase will skip bisque firing and go directly into the noborigama in October. Since I only have a month left until I leave the country this will not dry in time. Bizen also looks amazing without any glazing in the noborigama. So it seems I'll make a visit to Sarayama again when I return to Japan in Fall :)

Hot Pot and Incense Holders

2011-07-04T08:34:00.009+09:00

I've been super busy at pottery so I haven't been very good at taking pictures lately, and the ones that I do remember to take are somewhat blurry...oops ><

Everything is starting to pile up with pieces ready for glazing. Soon my giant vase will be bisque fired and all the small projects I've been working on will also be ready for glazing.
First are the five handled cups from a few weeks back and two plates. These are all red shigaraki clay (the high iron content clay) I did several combinations of R, B, S and L glazes. More pictures to come once they're fired. 6 of the pieces will be OF fired and one RF fired.

My low vase has also been fired. It turned out well, I'm still deciding on the color...Maybe something metallic?

I had leftover nabe clay again so I used about 4 kilos and made a 1 person hot pot. I was originally going to make a soup stock pot but it didn't turn out well so I went with it and made it into a nabe pot instead.

I made the body first and of course the hardest part was the lid resting spot. But I manged to get it right this time without messing up. After carving and drying a bit I attached the handles on the side.

I always like decorative and functional pieces so I made the handles look like flower petals and put a cherry blossom stamp in the middle.

Here is the lid, basically an upside down bowl with a hole in it for steam ventilation. Japanese hot pots usually have a cut handle in one spot, but I decided two would look better.

I'm calling this the "kappa" nabe. Since the shape resembles a Japanese Kappa, which is a legendary turtle like animal that lurks in rivers. It is basically an animal scare story used to keep children from playing in dangerous water. The modern image of the kappa is cute and this nabe reminds me of the kappa's head haha.

Here is a cuter version of the infamous Kappa.

I also made 20 incense holders as presents for when I leave in a few weeks. They're easy to make and will dry fast and be ready in about a week for glazing.

I had about 4 Kg of black stone clay so I shaped the mass into a long rectangular shape and cut each holder with my wire cutter. I used measured wooden planks that were 5mm thick as a guide. It's hard to see in this picture but the black has been cut evenly.

I prepared some dry wall and left the planks of clay to harden up a bit.

I then used these stamps* and made designs imprinted on the front. I then curled them up slightly and used a hair dryer to dry them in place.

These stamps were made by other students over the years, they're great so a quick and fun imprint.

Last I used this metal tool to make holes for the incense sticks to be placed in.

It took about 45 min to make all 20 holders. It's my first time so I hope they turn out ok, otherwise I'll have no presents for some people >< I'll be back again next Tuesday so I'll probably make some more with my other remaining clay.

Until Next Time!!

Pie Pan and Tea Pot

2011-06-24T14:23:00.009+09:00

The pie pan has been finished. I carved and attached handles to it last night.

Here is a view from above. I didn't want just plain handles so i made a flower petal type design to make it more fun.

I cut a paper guide first before cutting the clay and attaching it to the pan. I love how it turned out and can't wait to glaze it :)

Next were my two two pots. I've carved the bodies and lids and attached the handles at the top. Both turned out well after carving, nice and light and a fun shape.

But before you can call it a teapot you must attach the spout. Originally I made three spouts so I could choose which ones I liked best. In the end I went with the left and middle spouts.

I'll go over the spout quickly since I have given a detailed explanation on this post.

First I have to decide where and at what angle I want the spout at, so I put it on a pedestal.

Next it's time to eye ball it. Arai Sensei helped me out here since I forgot the exact way. Basically you want the spout's mouth up so water won't drip out. After you find a good spot you use a marker to draw a line on the spout. This is the guideline for where to carve.

Carving is a pain and can't be rushed. Slowly bit by bit at a time I scrapped away at it to get the best fit. You can see the guidelines and where I've carved in this photo.

After its carved it went into water to soften up for a few minutes.

before placing the spout in the water I outlined its shape and cut a hole according to it's shape. I scored the edges and applied liquid clay to ensure a strong bond with the spout.

After the spouts were firmly attached I made 4 small handle holders.

I attached them to the front and back.

Here they are after being finished!

They turned out well, now time to dry and get bisque fired.

These are all made from nabe clay so they must be fired at a lower temperature. It will be awhile until they are finished.

Until Next Time!

How to carve a cup

2011-06-21T08:59:00.017+09:00

I always talk about carving a piece but have never showed the process to how it's done. So for this post I'll show the step by step process of how to carve a cup.
I will use one of the cups I made last week as my example.

Before carving you must decide if your cup will have a handle or not, if it will make that first so while you're carving the handle can harden up and dry a little so it won't droop when attached.

The handles' design is basically up to you, round, flat square whatever. The only thing you have to watch out for is making sure it's not too thin. You will be holding your cup with it so if it's too brittle it will snap.

I decided to go with a basic coil handle for 5 of my cups. Coil handles are super easy; just roll out, cut and shape.

Although I only need 5 handles I made a bunch so I would have a lot of choices later on. I made thick/thin and long/short sizes. While carving the cups I placed them on some dry wall to help them dry faster. (Make sure to flip them every 10 min so they don't get too dry on one side)

Now it's time to start carving...
Before starting it's essential to measure the thickness of the bottom. Using two rulers I measured the outside like this.
Height was 102mm

Then I measured the inside like this.

Height was 85mm

So to get the thickness 102-85=17mm of thickness, which is quite a lot. Ideally between 5-7mm is what's desired.

Now it's time to flip over your cup and center it on the wheel. While the wheel is stopped, place the cup in the center then slowly start turning the wheel. Unless you're super lucky the cup should appear wobbly and off center. To get it to the right spot is quite tricky; while one hand slightly touches the cup the other hand gently taps the cup to bump it to the correct spot. This takes at least a year or practice to get down.

Prepare a coil long and thick enough to wrap around the base of the cup and that will reach above 2 fingers. Now you're ready to station the cup.
The coil you just made will wrap around the base like this.

While wrapping and pressing down on the coil make sure you always keep one hand slightly pressing down from the top onto the cup so your it won't move from the center.

Once finished it will look like this. Now it's time to get your tools ready.

I have 4 carving tools I like to keep handy. The one closest is the most versatile and used tool I own. The others are for special areas like corners or flat edges. I also keep a needle tool on hand for signing the piece once it's done.

Now it's time to carve

Starting from the center of the cup use the tools corner and apply slight pressure. Work your way slowly to the edge.

As you do this a curly Q of clay will start to form. Then repeat.

After a few times it's time to carve the clay sticking out on the side. This is relatively similar to above, but instead start farther out and work out to the side. You can't apply too much pressure since it will throw the cup off balance.

After a few times you can see the side getting reduced.

After a few more tries it should look like this.
Notice how the edges and top are all flat, if it's lumpy the cup will not stand up straight.

After the cup gets cleaned up a bit I like to measure it again to make sure I don't make any mistakes.
It looks much better but is still heavy, after measuring I still had about 4mm left to carve.

After measuring, centering and coiling the base again it was time to make the cups bottom rims.
I used my needle tool to draw guidelines so I would know where to stop carving. I carved the inside and outside until there was a 4mm thick rim at the base. Carving the rim is pretty simple, start from the middle and work your way to the line. Opposite for the outer layer. It's hard to give good direction at this part since everyone has their own way and technique which works best for them. But everyone will need a steady and patient hand.

2 hours later I had finished all 5 of my handle cups. They turned out well.

After scoring, applying liquid clay and smoothing out the edges the handles had been attached...
This was the last step so now the cups will dry under a towel for 7-10 days and get bisque fired...Can't wait to glaze them!

Until next time :)

Pie Pan and Cups

2011-06-16T08:28:00.004+09:00

Last night was one of the most productive wheel nights I've had at pottery for a long time. In three hours I managed to make a big 15 inch pie pan and 7 cups.

It was my first time making a pie pan but I found out it's very similar to making a large plate. I needed about 4 kilos for a 16 inch pan (15 inch once its fired and glazed, it will shrink)
I needed the wooden cover for the wheel because this is such a heavy piece it has to dry overnight before being removed from the board so it will stay straight and unwarped. The pan could technically stay on the wheel overnight but other students wouldn't be able to use it and it dries better on the wood. I used nabe clay since I will be baking with it and possibly using it over a flame.
To start I needed to pound the clay out with my fist. Starting from the middle and working my way out. I left about 1 cm of clay at the base. I drew a blue chalk line on the wood board to mark the 15inch mark so I would know how far to stretch the clay out. Here's what it looks like after pounding it out. Now it's time to wet it down and start smoothing out the lumps.

I used a smooth wooden tool with slightly rounded edges to even the bottom and rim out. Arai Sensei asked me about what type of pies I would be making and advised me to keep the pan slightly thick. If the walls are too thin the pie will cook too quickly on the outside and not enough on the inside. Glad he pointed this important point out! In the end the walls are about 8mm thick but will be carved slightly afterward.

In the end it looked like this :) After smoothing I cleaned off the clay along the sides and took the wire cutter and ran it through the bottom. It will now sit for about 18 hours before being taken off and let to dry a little longer before carving.

It actually turned out better than I thought and was easier to make than I imagined. Can't wait to make some pies with this!

After the pan I had plenty of time to make some other things. Since my teapot parts were still too soft to carve I decided to make some cups. I used red shigaraki clay (high iron content) which is one of my favs. It's smooth and silky and so easy to mold on the wheel.

In the end I made 8 cups but scrapped one since it was too small.

I made all different shapes and sizes. Some I'll put handles on and others I'll leave them as is. Here they are from a side view. These will go to my teachers at work as going away presents. I made them pretty thin so I hope they won't warp.

On a side note my big vase is drying nicely. Last night Arai Sensei asked me to help him move it to the kiln room to dry more. I thought it would still be pretty heavy but it was much lighter than I expected. He placed it on top of the kiln since the heat will help evaporate the moisture. He said about three more weeks until it can be bisque fired.

So far my to do list is coming along quite nicely. I have changed it slightly, 2 teapots and a pie pan instead of a nabe pot. And I have about 1/3 of the cups I need (if they turn out well) I've also started on my chopstick holders at home. I'll try to get to pottery this weekend to work on my teapots, so let's hope it won't rain!

Until Next time!

More Teapots

2011-06-15T09:01:00.007+09:00

It's been awhile since I've made my last teapot so I thought I'd give it a go again before I leave Japan. Teapots are a lot of work but once you get the hang of making the parts it's actually quick and easy.

My last teapot was bizen clay, but this time I used nabe clay which can be heated over a flame without breaking. So these teapots can be used for boiling water as well.

The picture above is of three spouts and 2 lids. The nabe clay is a dark maroon color and is extremely sandy. I have never seen nabe clay after bisque firing so I'm not sure what color it will turn out in the end, but I'm assuming a darker red color similar to red stone clay minus the metallic undertones.
Here are the spouts up close. They are quite thick at certain spots right now so it's hard to imagine how they will look on the teapot body.
Spouts are relatively easy to make, they just take some practice. It's similar to making a tiny vase.

Here is a drawing of what a typical spout looks like if cut in half. The red is the outline and the blue dashes are excess clay. After drying I will carve away the excess clay to make a thinner, shorter and lighter spout. I will also cut off most of the bottom to make the spout attachable to the body.

Here is one of the lids up close. (Sorry blurry pic) It looks just like a bowl at this point and the shape is just about the same only much thicker. Like I've said in past posts about teapots, the lid must be made upside down. So try to imagine the top where the thick part is.

This is a drawing of the lid and body. The blue area is what will be carved away (the thick bottom part from picture above) and the remaining part in red will be the handle.

The lid is actually quite easy to make since most of the work is done afterward when carving. The hard part is making the body. It is almost the exact same as making a tall bowl but the last step which determines it's a teapot is the most difficult. In the drawing towards the top you can see two steps sticking out, this is the step where the lid will rest.

Here is one of two bodies I made. You can see the top has a step for the lid. After making the body you must measure this opening and make the lid the same width so they will fit together.

I messed up on my first try making the step...It's extremely difficult bringing clay back down without it flopping over. Arai Sensei helped me a lot with this part.

So for now these parts will dry and I will carve them next week. I made an extra spout and extra lid just in case one doesn't turn out well so I have a back up.

Until Next time!

It's hip to be a Square

2011-06-10T08:31:00.008+09:00

Morning all, My last 5 weeks at pottery is flying by quickly as I scramble to do all the projects I've wanted before times up. My official last day is July 26th so I have about 6 weeks total. Which seems like a lot of time but actually isn't much considering pieces have to dry for about 2-4 weeks depending how big they are. So in order to get everything I want done I'm making things like a mad woman since I only have about 10 days before I can't make anything anymore.

My to do list is as follows

teapot (body's been made, will make spout and top this weekend)
bunch of cups for presents, maybe 20-25 (I can hold of on this until last since they don't take long to dry)
2 large dinner plates (wheel or hand built, whichever I have time for)
Hot pot (nabe in Japanese, must be done in the next 5 days)
large bizen clay vase (I have some leeway with this one since I plan on putting it in the fall norborigama without a glaze so as long as I finish it by July 26th it will have plenty of time to dry but it'll take 20-25 hours to build so I still have to hussle)
small hand built hors d'œuvre plates (I hope to use all my left over bits of clay and make a mix, these should be done in the next 3 weeks)
chopstick holders and napkin rings (20-25, good for presents)

Rushing is somewhat ruining my creativity at this point, since I'm trying to get so much done in a short time I cannot think too much about making a cool design or nitpicking on making it exactly how I want. But I think it'll be fine in the end, sometimes thinking too much about design or nitpicking about shape is a waste of time.

Anyways here's what I've been up to lately...

Like I mentioned above I made a teapot body. This is a special clay that can be put over fire for cooking. It's called nabe nendou in Japanese. It's very sandy and a maroon purple color. This is the most challenging clay I've had to work with since starting ceramics. It's easy to center which is great, but if you don't make your piece quickly the sediment starts to melt away...Since I'm no professional it took me about 30 mins to get this shape after one fail. The longer I took the softer the clay got and the harder it was to form the clay.

I was originally going for a more round shaped body but since the clay got so soft it would sink down (the first fail) so Arai Sensei brought it back to a bowl shape and I decided to make it have a large lid instead. Making the lid resting spot is the hardest part. You can see in this picture what it looks like afterward. The whole process is basically bringing the rim down inside the body while using your middle finger to support the underside. I've done it a few times and have gotten slightly better but it's still a challenge.

In the meantime this will await carving as I make the lid and spout.

I've been working on a smaller rectangle shape vase for the past few days as well. I used red stone clay and plan on using B glaze

First I drew a sketch of what I wanted, figured out height and width, rolled the clay out to 5mm thick and cut the pieces out to fit my measurements. I placed the pieces between drywall to help absorb the moisture, but it wasn't enough to make them rigid enough for building that day.

So I put them in plastic sheeting and into a styrofoam box for a few days so they would harden up.

After about four days they were perfect for building. It was time to start putting all my cut pieces together. Here is the base part with 3 walls attached.

As with all attachment projects you need liquid clay and scoring to ensure a good bond. To add to the strength I also smooth soft clay over the bonded areas to make it extra strong.

Fourth wall is put up.

For my design I wanted a multi rectangle layered vase, which is a challenge since clay tends to sink when put horizontally, and even more so when you put weight on top of it. So after consulting with Arai Sensei he advised me to make clay beams in the inside to support the weight and prevent sinkage.

Here is a drawing of what I did. The top is the lid that will go on top of the vase, The blue is the next rectangle outline that will fit on top. (See drawing below, the black colored part has yet to be put on)

The rectangle below is an aerial view of the base. The red lines are the beams I added on the inside for support. I placed them at the most vulnerable spots, and once the top was put on you could not see them.

I was so absorbed in the project I forgot to take pictures of the beams, but here is the after picture. It turned out very well and hopefully won't sink.

Originally I was only going to do a two story vase but I decided to add one more small rectangle at the top.

Here's a pic of the last small rectangle being assembled. Notice the scoring and liquid clay to ensure a strong bond. (I also added beams below this one)

And voila! Done! I really love the shape and can't wait to see the final product. Next time I'll smooth out the rough edges and do the final quality control check.

Making this vase I learned how important it is to measure accurately and keep back up pieces in case I cut incorrectly. Planning in key for something calculated like this.

It's hip to be a square!...emmm rectangle :)

Until next time!!!

June

2011-06-08T09:41:00.007+09:00

First an update on my large wave vase. It's hard to tell in this picture but the clay has lightened a lot since it is drying. It's a light gray color now and feels dry to the touch, probably another 3 weeks and it should be ready for bisque firing.

Since I have so much clay to use up I've been trying to make big pieces lately. Here is the start to a wheel thrown vase I made last week. I used about 9kilos (20lbs) of clay. This is one of my fav clays to use, nice and smooth red clay 104. It has a high iron content so it's a weaker clay (can't be fired in the noborigama) but it has a nice metallic sheen to it.

I was originally trying to make a tall egg shaped vase but I failed. It was going well at first but this clay is weak when thrown for long periods of time on the wheel. The constant use of water and the lack of stones makes it easy to flop. My arms were also getting tired, so my lack of power made the vase wobbly and uncentered towards the top. So in the end I cut most of the top off and made a large short vase instead. It's still super thick and heavy...but the shape turned out pretty well. Here it is fresh off the wheel.

After drying for a few days it was time to shave off all that weight. It was about 2 cm thick (when 1 cm is needed)

After about an hour of carving almost half the weight was taken off. Here are all the shavings, probably about 2 kilos worth.

The final pieces ready for drying. I shaved the outside and the inside to help fix the unevenness.

After the vase I had a some clay left over so I made 2 bowls. Not too big and not too small. I'll carve these next week.

I also had time for glazing the pieces I made a few weeks back. They're all red stone clay and a few are red stone and black stone mixes. This time I decided to try out some new color combos I've never tried before.

First are a coffee cup and small cereal bowl. Half is glaze Q,(red) which is very similar to glaze C. Q has a nice metallic tint to it, but I've never seen it on red stone clay so I'm not sure how it will turn out, hopefully well :) I did an accent color of glaze R (white) which I love, but this combo could look great or awful...

Next, black and red stone mix cup and bowl. Glaze C with glaze R accent, same as above slightly metallic, this combo could be great or ugly...

Last red stone bowl with glaze W and glaze R. Glaze W is a nice brown glaze with yellow undertones, this one should turn out well.

Only a month and half left at Sara Yama Studio....time to hustle! Until next time!

Sara Yama Festival and Some Newbies

2011-05-29T10:13:00.008+09:00

May 28th and 29th was the Sara Yama Festival which is a small festival held by the town of Saza. There's various booths selling things, lots of food and events for kids. Every year the the studio has a booth selling pieces we've made and a booth for kids and adults to paint their own plate (for free!)

Here is the booth selling various things students have made. There were hundres of different things from cups to plates to figurines to necklaces with clay beads. Sadly I didn't put anything to sell this year since I didn't have anything worth selling.

It was rainy all weekend as well so the amount of people was pretty low, which is not good for sales. If you're lucky you can make 1000yen but usually its nothing. It's just fun to see if anyone buys something you've made.
Here is the paint your own plate booth. Mostly kids do it but we had a few parents and adults paint their own plate as well.

The constant drizzle kept all of us under the tent so it was quite crowded!

Anyways, since my large vase is drying I'm back to making regular things. Here I made 6 cups and plates, mix of red stone and black stone clay. Very gritty, but the stones look great after firing.

Here are three of them after carving. Because the clay is so gritty it is hard to make them thin and light but I did pretty well this time, except one cup which I will do over sometime.

Another plate, turned out well.

One handled coffee/tea cup

Underside of the two

Since I'm leaving in two months I'm getting a head start on going away presents, it's been awhile since I've been on the wheel this much so I'm getting used to it again. I have tons of clay (Almost 60kg worth!) to get through so I'll make some table vases this coming week to try to eat through the clay faster.

Until next time!

New Project

2011-05-23T10:00:00.002+09:00

Well I'm at it again with another big vase as my next project. I have only a few months left of having money, lots of free time and the chance to use the studio a lot so I'll take advantage of it and try to make as many statement pieces as I can. After I enter grad school in another city it will be hard to come back to the studio often, but well see :) I'll stay optimistic.

Anyways I bought about 18 kg of black stone clay 黒味影　くろみかげ　kuromikage which is from Shiga prefecture near Kyoto city. It is one of my favorite clays to work with since it is one of the few clays that turns a nice ash black color after firing. It has lots of stones in it for texture and looks great with white glazes. It's a very earthy clay and is grainy because of the stones which can sometimes make it harder to work with on the wheel. With my 18kg I decided to make another giant vase since I'd like to start making pieces for a possible art exhibition in a few years. Also I love using vases in my home, and they are also great gifts for weddings or special occasions. You can never have too many giant vases :)

I briefly introduced my new vase in a previous post but thought I should show the start to finish process in general steps here.

Like my first large vase you must start from the base and work your way up building with coils. This time instead of making a thick base and carving out the bottom later on I made a thinner base that will dry as is.

After making coils its build build build. Here I am about 6 coils up.

In between building you must let the base somewhat harden before you can move on. Wet clay is wobbly and unstable, so letting it dry a bit for a few days ensures it won't topple as more and more weight is put on top.

Here is the vase at about 14 coils. Since it has reached the widest point in the design it is time to carve the excess clay from the bottom since once it is finished it won't be easy to flip it over and carve.

I used a bucket and a towel over it as a stabilizer and flipped it over. The bucket suspends the vase so I can carve the sides. As before, diagonal strokes downward with the carving tool gets the most even outcome.

After carving and a few more coils the vase looked like this. You can tell the bottom half is slightly smoother looking thanks to the carving. It was getting wobbly, so I let it be for a few days.

Here it is again after another 8 coils, the shape is really starting to form. Towards the top of the vase he clay is still pliable and soft, towards the bottom it is hard and sturdy but if I punched it, it would crumble.

The shape of the vase was slightly off at certain points so while the clay was still wet enough I used these tools to help make an even appearance. The far left round thing was used on the inside to get rid of sunken sections, the half moon scrapper was also used on the inside to smooth lumps and cracks over. The big paddle type things were used on the outside to pound sticking out parts in. I had to use these tools very gently in order to make sure I didn't crack or damage the vase.
After pounding and slapping, and a few more coils later the vase looked like this. It's hard to tell the difference from the previous picture but when turned the vase I could see a much more even shape than before. It's also important to pound out the waves int he vase from where I started up building after a few days break, you can see the line on the upper middle part of the vase.

Adding the last few coils before building is officially complete!

After 2 more I decided one last coil would make it complete.

Building done! Now to cut the rim and shape the walls...

Here is the rim after a quick trim with my wire cutter.

It was then time to knock away and smooth the vase to get a nice even shape.

Here is the final shape! Now time to carve excess clay away...

I actually bought a new tool for the job, a large carving tool with rounded edges to not scratch the clay or leave dents on the side.

The top was still too soft to carve so I did the bottom part initially, I'll end up finishing the job next time after the clay has hardened a little.

So far I love the shape and can't wait to get to the next step! (carving out a design)

Before I start carving I drew out a primitive sketch of what I wanted the vase to look like. I wanted curvy lines that had an ocean wave look to them. The small circle sketch below is how I would go about making the lines coincide with one another from top to bottom.

Since the lines were not straight and the vase mouth and base were also different sizes I made two discs out of card board and drew 16 points equal lengths apart on each one.

This disc was for the base.

This one for the mouth. After placing the dics on and under the vase I took a marker and made dashes at each line on the vase.

I then drew lines free hand from top to bottom.

It's hard to tell in this picture but I have finished all the lines. It was difficult to keep them uniform so some spots are wider than others, it's not perfect but I like how it turned out in the end anyways :)

I wanted a "mountain" effect so the lines I just drew were a guide. The lines would be the highest points on the vase while the middle of the lines the lowest.

Here I am starting on my third line. As you can see I used a carving tool to start the deepest point in between.

Here is a close up.

There were 16 lines total, here I am about half way. I kept a towel around the parts I wasn't working on to keep the clay moist. Since this was black stone clay it dried out quickly and constantly needed to be sprayed with water.

Interesting fact: Black stone is the most expensive clay available at Sara Yama Studio, but since everyone orders all different types of clays at various prices Arai Sensei is able to keep them all at one price.

Just a few more lines!

Just about done! The hardest and most tiring part is complete, now it's time for the tedious work.

The lines were too round for my taste, I wanted a more crisp precise look so from now I'll go through all the lines again and make the ridges sharp.

I bought another new carving tool ( left) and used one of my older ones to form the sharp ridges. They are both square, which makes it much easier and faster to get the effect I wanted.

Here I am half way. I tried to take a picture to show the difference between the rounded ridges and sharp ones. The left side is sharp and the right side hasn't been done yet. It's only a slight difference but overall the piece looks much more polished. The glaze will also look better on defined ridges, hopefully resulting in a nice contrast at high and low points.

Here is the final product!!! After almost 30 hours of work it is ready to dry and be fired in about 2 months! I'll glaze it probably right before I head back to the states. I really hope it turns out well!

A view from above

For now it has been wrapped in a towel for drying.

Until next time!

2011 Spring Noborigama

2011-04-20T08:24:00.001+09:00

We were lucky this year and had a beautiful sunny day for the noborigama aka wood kiln. The cherry blossoms were also late this year so they were in bloom on the mountain side near the studio.

Here is a close up of the wood kiln.

My three hour shift was from 4-7pm and there were a few people helping out during that time along with me. Here are three people feeding the fire with the black smoke from the logs starting to come out the chimney.

If you are interested about the noborigama please check my pas blog posts here and here.

After adding the logs huge billows of black smoke come out the top.

Smoke and fire also come directly out of the kiln cracks and holes.

When they wind blows the wrong way we all get a mouthful of smoke.

So after 18 hours of feeding the fire and a week of waiting, it was time to take the pieces out of the kiln!
As usually the wall is the first to go and pass pass pass.

The assembly line always goes to the big blue tarp where all the pieces are laid out in order. We lay it out in order so we can see how the wood kiln fired the pieces this time. Since some are up front, back, high, low etc and each spot in the kiln gives a different grade of firing. Some spots are great, and some spots don't get enough heat so by observing this we can adjust the amount of wood and how far it's thrown in.

This time was pretty good, not many bad spots and everyone's pieces turned out well, including mine!

First are these matching cup and bowl. I used glaze J (oribe) and it is normally a clear glassy green but in the noborigama it turned this wonderful green turquoise color with splashes of pink and purple! I love love LOVE them!!! Although you can't see the indents I made on them the color turned out AMAZING. I can't wait to try this again.

You can see the pink undertones inside the cup.

Here is an underside shot and you can see the indents and the nice orange flash of color on the unglazed base from the heat in the kiln.

Here are the two other bowls from the kiln. Left bowl is glaze B and right bowl is glaze U (my fav yellow color) Both turned out amazing as well. I love the drip marks on the left bowl.

Inside shot, great glazes but one minor mistake...

Glaze B on the left bowl ran too far down and pooled at the base of the bowl. Luckily it was only a little bit so I could grind it away easily. The right bowl came away perfect, with no glaze pooling at the bottom.

Last are a few of my teachers vases that went into the wood kiln. He was happy with the color but sadly ash settled on ALL of the pieces which turned into a hard cement type texture. He's chipped the spots off, but the vases are now damaged and can't be sold. He'll most likely sand the damaged area and re-fire them in the next nobirgama in fall to try to salvage them.

Until next time!

Finished!!

2011-04-19T13:14:00.005+09:00

After more than two months my giant vase has finally been finished. The color turned out great and I love the design.

I did an RF firing and am happy I chose to go with color instead of just plain white.

I'm of course happy with this vase but there was one big disappointment which will prevent me from entering this in any competitions.

There are large cracks all over it...They range from 1cm-12cm long...

I haven't tested the vase to see if it holds water but I don't think it will. There is one particular crack towards the bottom which I'm certain will leak.

The reason for the cracks is I didn't connect the coils well enough. So while the vase dried the clay never fully bonded. It is almost impossible to know where and if there are cracks since after bisque firing they usually won't show. Not until it is glazed and fired the final time will all the flaws show up.

The irony is the color turned out so well...but live and learn is my motto! This will still be a great vase to keep at home. I can place a container on the inside to hold water so I can put flowers or branches in it without water leaking as well.

Over all the vase took about 20 hours of time. I'm currently on my next vase and this time I will make sure I connect the coils correctly.

Until next time!

Vases

2011-04-15T08:58:00.012+09:00

Like I've mentioned before my big vase has been bisque fired and is ready for glazing. I took it outside for a final sanding and air gun blast before starting the glaze work.

I originally wanted an all white vase, which was hard to visualize before bisque firing since it was a gray color. But now that it has been fired it turned into a nice white color. After starting at it for a few minutes I changed my mind and scrapped the all white idea, concluding it was too boring and I would regret the choice.

So I went over to the color choices and decided on three colors I like and use a lot. I also decided to use my typical design of lines and dots which are a theme in some of my other pieces.

An initial sketch showing my design with my color choices. I decided the lines and dots would be the iron red base with glaze E as an accent. The overall color would be U, a favorite yellow glaze I use quite often.

I first drew lines with a pen as a guide before painting the red iron. (The pen will burn off during firing)

I then painted each line on carefully. I used two calligraphy brushes. A normal size and a small detail size.

The glaze went on pretty well but the clay sucks up the color quite fast so I had to re-dip the brush a lot.

After drawing the lines I used the pen again and drew the dots. I used the detail brush to fill in the red iron color.

I didn't want just lines, but a gradation from dark at the bottom to the yellow at the top. So I took a large painting brush and filled in the bottom with wispy brush strokes of red iron.

Last I used glaze E over the red iron to create hopefully more depth and interest at the bottom.

Voila! Hand painted and ready for the top coat. By the time I finished painting the design it was dark outside so I'll spray glaze U over the top this coming Sunday. I hope it turns out well!

I've gotten bored with cups and plates so I've decided to continue making large vases for the time being with maybe a few small pieces on the side.

This is the sketch of my next project which I've already started on.

I'm using black stone clay and hope for a height of around 70-80cm, but there is one slight set back. I only have 10kilos of clay and I will most likely need more than that to build something this wide and tall. Luckily Arai Sensei is ordering more clay next week, but sadly it won't arrive for another 2-3weeks so I may have to hold off once I run out of clay.

In the meantime here is the vase so far, I've built a few more coils on top of this so it is about 7cm higher now than the picture shows. I'll continue building on it next week.

Until Next time!

Imari Amateur Ceremics Contest

2011-04-13T10:01:00.019+09:00

From April 1st to the 10th was the Imari International Amateur Ceramics Contest. I was lucky enough to receive an outstanding achievement award for my "Blue Moon" vase. I was so happy and shocked by the news! I had lots of trouble with this vase but it all paid off in the end. This is my first recognition for my pottery in Japan! There was an awards ceremony and a photo session to celebrate the occasion.

Here I am receiving a plaque and gift from the mayor of Imari City.
Certificate and gift, an Imari porcelain bowl

A group shot of all the winners and judges!
A few pictures of me and the judges, who are from the famous ceramic families of Imari.

The ceremony and pieces were on display here in Okawachi area in Imari City.

A total of 77 adults entered the competition and over 400 children entered the youth division. Here is the room where the pieces were on display.

Here is a shot of some of the adult pieces. As you can see most of the pieces are large vases, mine looks tiny compared to the others.

Here are the top three grand prize winners. The middle is first place, a woman from Sasebo. Second place is on the right and third place is on the left. All the top winners were 50 years old or more.

Here is another outstanding achievement award. It was given to another lady at Sara Yama Studio! I remember her making this piece and it was cool to see how it turned out :) It has a cord next to it so I'm assuming she will use it as a lamp.

Here are some of the other outstanding achievement winners.

These were two of my personal favs. I loved the cherry blossom vase and the lovely hand painted plate next to it.

The kids pieces were in the middle of the room. It was so fun to see all the cute animals and creatures on display. Here are some pieces that appear to be monster themed.

The adult pieces are amazing but it's more fun to look at the creative kids pieces. Here is one titled "Bunny" hehe

Here are a few turtles.

And my personal fav. an octopus! So cute!

These are pieces from the pottery club at one of the elementary schools I teach at. Of course Arai Sensei is the head of the club.

Of course the kids section had winners as well. Here are the grand prize winners.

A shot of the kids section winners and judges.

Finally, me and my vase. What a great experience! I'm so sad my time in Nagasaki is slowly coming to an end, but I will for sure continue with my pottery and develop my style and skills. Thank you Arai Sensei! I couldn't have made it this far without you!!!

For those of you who aren't familiar with Imari ware I'll give a brief description of it. Historically Imari city was a port of trade for European exports, one of the main exports being Arita porcelain. (Arita is a town next to Imari which is know for Arita-yaki, and has a long ceramics history) The main types of ware exported were porcelain ware white in base and hand painted with intricate flowers, china themes, designs etc. The main colors are blue and red, but aren't limited to only these two colors. Eventually kilns started forming in Imari as well and Imari developed its own style and designs, mainly the Imari style and Kakiemon family style. The Imari and Arita area are very unique since they have outside influence from Korea, China and Europe. It is definitely a must see place for pottery fans. This is a very brief account of Imari so I urge you to do some research yourself to found out more about this wonderful pottery town. (Picture is a porcelain tile map of the kilns in Imari)
Imari is a great day trip. There are lot's of small shops to stop at and maybe buy a souvenir.

The Okawachi area has a lot of charm as well. There is a beautiful stream flowing through the town and the bridges are decorated in broken porcelain pieces. Sometimes you can even see koi swimming in the river.

Spring is also a great time to go. The cherry blossoms are in bloom and the days are nice and warm.

Next Post: Spring Noborigama

Until next time!

Not Much

2011-04-11T11:18:00.006+09:00

It's getting warmer and warmer here in Japan and the sakura trees are in full bloom now! Here is a pic of some of the trees near the studio. The trees go up onto the side of the mountain as well. Almost makes the mountain look like it has patches of snow on it.
Anyways, only a few things this post. Here is a plate waiting for bisque firing I finished up carving the other night. I made 2 other cups along with it but ended up trashing them since they just didn't turn out well. This one is still mediocre but it'll be a good plate to use at home since I don't have many this shape and size.

I did a pretty good job carving it. Since red stone clay is the most rough and grainy it can be really hard to carve. Stones end up getting in the way and this clay wears tools out very quickly. it's best to carve red stone clay soon after making it (within a few days) other wise the clay gets hard and difficult to manage. I didn't get around to this one until a week later and it was pretty hard. It took twice as long to carve and I couldn't take as much off the bottom as I had hoped for fear of cracking it. It's a little heavy but sometimes that's good for plates ;)

This past weekend the local English teachers had a fundraiser for the Tohoku earthquake. I couldn't make it due to an event in Imari (more on that next post) so I donated some of my work to the cause. Just a few plates or cups like the ones pictured there. I was hoping to give some better pieces (maybe coffee/tea cups) but my transferring teachers cleared me out a few weeks before. (These were given away as prizes.)

Last, here are some vases my teacher made. I just wanted to post them so you can see the differences between a beginner and a pro. His vases are amazing and they only take him a few minutes to make on the wheel. These four went into the noborigama that took place this past Saturday. A post about that to follow next week after the pieces come out of the kiln.

Until next time!

Forgotten Things

2011-04-04T14:55:00.009+09:00

Yummmm, breakfast I made on dishes I made. Nothing better than that!

Anyways, this post is mostly things I forgot to post the final version of. So I'll start from the oldest.

First is this small vase I made a few months back in this batch of pieces. I forgot to take photos of the two cups since I gave them away as presents, but the color looks pretty much the same. Bizen clay with X glaze and brush strokes of an iron based red color and undertones of a white glaze called kaorin.

Next is one of two pencil holders. Glaze C on bottom and Glaze Z on the top. Joshigaraki clay. RF firing

The other pencil holder, Glaze L on bottom with glaze E on top. Joshigaraki clay. OF firing

Last is a cup I made. Glaze I with accent glaze Z on the handle. Joshigaraki clay, RF firing.

Here is a close up of the glaze, as time passes the glaze cracks and you get this great accent. I love lighter glaze colors with white clay since you can see the cracking. It's a nice effect. Depending on the clay and glaze combo this doesn't always happen.

Here is a green ware bowl that I carved recently. Its bizen clay. I decided to try something new. I put a slip of kaorin (a white mate glaze) on the inside and outside.

I did two coats to make sure I get a nice white effect. Once this is bisque fired I'll either do a clear glaze or a light colored glaze over. The white will basically remain how it is.

I also did this design on the side. I've seen this around on other pottery and I liked it a lot. It looks complicated but it's actually relatively easy. Refer to this blog entry on how it's done. To get this effect, put the slip on and let dry, then chip away. The white glaze won't run so the jagged marks will stay as is. I was hoping to get this into the noborigama, but it won't dry in time. Oh well. Either way, I'm excited to see how this turns out.

Lastly, three new pieces I made on the wheel with a clay I haven't worked with in quite awhile, red stone clay. It's extremely grainy and rocky so it hurt my hands but once I get back into the swing of using it I'll get better. These turned out so so, but I decided to wait and see how they dry before I keep or trash them.

Until next time!

It's been too Long!!!

2011-03-31T13:25:00.013+09:00

Spring at the studio! Cherry blossoms are blooming along with other flowers.

It has officially been way too long since I have last posted. My graduate school essays and applications are all done with so I can finally focus on pottery again. I have skipped out on lots of time slots so not much has been done in March. But there are still a few new things I'd like to share.

Title "Blue Moon"

First and foremost, I entered this vase in the Imari International Amateur Ceramics Contest and won honorable mention! (4th place) I was so surprised and happy about the award! I wasn't expecting it at all. It is my first official award of any sorts pertaining to my pottery. Feels great to have achieved something :) It will be on display from April 1st to 10th at the Nabeshima Pottery center in Imari City. Awards ceremony will be on the 10th at 2pm. I'm so excited!

On to regular business

Remember these? Well they turned out awful! So I re-glazed them all one color and am hoping for a better outcome. The handles are the finished product, but there is a base of a white glaze under the red and light green so I hope they won't turn out worse. I'll do OF firing, but there's not many pieces to fire right now so probably another few weeks until I know how they'll look. These were a lot of work so I'm hoping my effort pays off.

The wavy cup I made awhile back, it turned out pretty lovely actually. I gave it as a gift to one of my teachers at work who transferred. Joshigaraki clay with kohagi glaze RF firing.

Next are a few simple pieces I made awhile back. I tried a new technique (new for me at least) and they turned out pretty well.

An indented design, very Japanese. I've seen it on many pottery pieces here in Japan and thought it was difficult to do, which is actually not so.

The key is this simple tool; a long curved metal ruler shaped thing. There's two type, rounded edge (left) and flat edge (right)

The rounded one is used for round surfaces like cups, and the flat is used for flat surfaces like straight bowls or plates.

Holding it at a certain angle while the wheel moves is the key to creating a vibration. The mild vibration causes the tool to bounce up and down creating the design.

This picture is a demo, as you can see I'm not at the wheel but it looks something like this. Getting the angle right is tricky at first (looked terrible when I first did it) but after some practice it turned out quite well. (Sorry don't know why this photo is crooked, tried turning it around many times on blogger...)

When done correctly it should look something like this. Mine is still a little off, but this looks so much better from my first try.

These two have since been bisque fired and glazed. I choose a nice green shiny glaze. My teacher recommended shiny glazes (ones that look like glass) since the glaze will settle into the indents and show off the design better. Other matte or thick glazes won't show the design as well since they'll just end up covering it up.

Here are two other bowls from this month too, plain and jo shigaraki clay. U glaze on the left and B glaze on the right.

These four glazed pieces will go into the next noborigama which is April 9th. So soon! It kinda crept up on me this time so I only have these four pieces going in this time.

Well that's it for now! Until next time!

What's going on

2011-03-09T08:26:00.007+09:00

I've been super busy with graduate school applications and haven't been keeping up with my blog much lately. By the end of March I'll be back to normal though, but for now I'll just post blogs with lots of info and pics.

First is my giant vase, I sanded it again last weekend and some more holes appeared so I filled those and I'll sand it one more time before letting it be. Shouldn't be long now until it can get bisque fired.

On Saturday, while I was sanding my vase, a Sasebo TV crew came to film the studio and Arai Sensei. They filmed me sanding my vase (not very exciting haha) but I was on TV this past week. The program was about things and places in Saza, they do it every year. Besides getting shots of the studio they filmed Arai sensei making a big vase on the wheel. Afterwords the three crew tried making their own cup. One of the crew was a French intern from Nagasaki university. Here he is getting advice from Arai Sensei.

Next are the pencil holders and two cups from a few weeks back. They've been bisque fired so I glazed them last night. A lot of the colors I like were out so it gave me the chance to experiment with colors I wouldn't normally choose and be creative with the colors left.
Joshigaraki clay, Glaze L (green) on the base with glaze E (red) as the accent on the top and inside. OF firing

Joshigaraki clay. Glaze C as the base bottom and glaze Z as the accent color at the top and inside. RF firing

Joshigaraki clay. Glaze I (light pale white blue) with an accent dip of glaze Z over the handle. RF firing

Joshigaraki clay. Glaze R, RF firing.

Here are all the pieces after the glazes were applied with their color samples next to them.

And last, three pieces I made last night with my left over bits of clay. I had joshigaraki and regular shigaraki so I mixed those and made the bowl and cup on the right. I also had a good amount of bizen so I tried making some plates (first one flopped) and the second one turned out so so. I'm waiting to see how it dries before I decide to keep it. It was a little wobbly and dipped in the center.

Until next time!!

busy busy busy

2011-03-02T09:12:00.017+09:00

It's been a busy few weeks so I haven't had much time to upload onto my blog here. Few new things...

My vase is almost finished, I spent a few hours sanding it last Saturday and discovered there's a few small holes so of course I had to fix those up. Arai Sensei showed me how

First you have to make the hole a little bigger. I know it sounds strange but in order for the clay to bond well with the vase you need to have a good area to put it in.

Next you have to wet the area with water and a brush.

Last, stick a small amount of clay inside the hole and smooth it out with something flat. It should look like this when it's done. The dark area where the hole was filled is a different color since it has to dry.

Make sure they clay you use to fill the hole is the same clay you used to make the piece. It's been a few days since I fixed the holes but the color is still different since I may have used the wrong clay...I won't know until it's bisque fired. But the holes are so small it shouldn't make a difference.

Next were some cups I made awhile back that I carved. Here is the first one, basic coffee cup with handle added.

Last were two pencil jars I made. Swirly design. I used joshigaraki, these will dry and be bisque fired later.

Remember these two? Well they've been bisque fired, sanded and glazed.
Both are joshigaraki.

Slightly larger one's body is glaze G (white cream color) and the handle is L (green color) OF firing

Small one's body is also glaze G, but the handle is E (rusty red color) OF firing.

Glaze G is super thick but doesn't run so I had to scrape away a lot of glaze after these dried to make sure the pieces won't be lump after being fired. I've also never used this clay and these colors before so it should be fun to see how they turn out. (Good I hope!)

And finally, two larger bowls I made out of regular shigaraki. They're pretty thin so I'm a little worried about when I carve them.

Anyways, that's all for now! Next blog will be coming up soon!

Lovely Afternoon

2011-02-19T22:09:00.009+09:00

It was a nice mild winter day so I headed on over to pottery and spent about an hour sanding down my vase. Pretty much the same as last time, up and down and LOTS of dust. I wore a mask and glasses this time but I still managed to get covered in dust and had some get in my mouth and eyes a little. The breeze outside was helpful and not helpful at times >< Anyways, I'm still not done sanding. Next time I'll take a higher grade paper and re-do the whole thing again.

Remember this vase? Well it was its third time to the kiln and it FINALLY turned out somewhat decent. I actually like the color a lot. Unlike anything I've made so far. Very happy with the turn out, third time was the charm I guess. I'll enter this in the Imari Amateur pottery contest coming up in April. Ill probably title it "Blue Moon" since it reminds of exactly of that.

My dashi holders were doing pretty good. I took the newspaper and cardboard out and the handles were still in a good place. (Not like I could do much if they weren't haha, they're already dried in place)

They'll dry for another week or so and go in for bisque firing.

I still had another hour and a half so I took the rest of my Joshigaraki and made a few cups. I like to experiment with the wavy style so I did two of those and one regular shaped cup. I'll carve these next week.

Until next time!

Coil Vase pt 6

2011-02-17T08:33:00.009+09:00

Not too much happening with the vase lately. It's simply drying and awaiting firing. But while it's drying I have to important job of smoothing it out even more. It is at the perfect stage for a good sanding, let me rephrase that HAND sanding...There's really not too much to explain about it. Anyone who has done any sort of sanding before knows it's basically just a lot of rubbing back and forth.

But there is ONE thing to keep in mind while sanding a green ware vase, strokes are up and down, not random.

I made some initial marks here to show the color the vase will turn after sanding, a light gray. You can also see that even after carving away the larger lumps it's still not even close to being really smooth.

Here is the vase close up after a good sanding. See all the dust on the bottom? It's amazing how much came off actually. Next time I'm for sure wearing a mask and some eye ware. Inhaling this can't be healthy and I accidentally touched one of my eyes and it was irritated and itchy for a few hours after.

The initial sanding is with a lower grade paper (larger grain) once I have finished that I will use a higher grain paper to get a nice unscratched finished.

After about 45 min of sanding and a sore arm and shoulder later I decided to call it a day with sanding. I barely made it past the base, I still have about 2/3 of the vase to sand. Sanding isn't something that has to be rushed so I can slowly keep at it until it goes into the kiln. (Roughly 6 weeks to get the sanding done) Which is great since I was sore the next morning from using muscles in my arm I never usually use haha.

First firing

before second firing

awaiting third firing

On another note here is an older vase I made awhile back. The original color (top pic) is from the noborigama, not so great, would've liked more glaze runnage. The pink color was a second visit to the kiln with glaze X, but it didn't turn out well at all, (Sorry no picture) now far right picture is the vase again getting ready for it's third trip to the kiln. I hope the third times the charm. Glaze is Kohagi (bottom pic) Firing a pieces so many times isn't always a good idea, it could warp or break or look even worse than before. But I absolutely didn't like the vase after glaze X so I'm willing to take the risk.

Until next time!

Dashi Holders

2011-02-16T08:34:00.010+09:00

Remember these guys from last time? Well it was time to add their handles.

I really liked the handle and look of this one from the studio. So I decided to model these two after it.

First I prepared the handle, a 5mm thick 5cm wide long stick of clay with a slit on one end. Since the clay was way to soft to stay afloat on its own I put it on a round bowl's underside which was about the same size as my dashi holder and let it dry for awhile.

In the mean time I put crumpled newspaper formed into a round ball inside the dashi holders. I made the newspaper ball a little taller than the height I wanted my handles falling at. Then I cut pieces of thin cardboard into two long strips (one for each piece) and placed them over the newspaper from spout to rear, as you can see to the left. (Sorry, slightly blurry picture)

I placed the clay on the cardboard and proceeded to cut slits on each end piece. (Three in total, two in front and one in back)

These slits will "grab" onto the dashi holder later with watery clay to make a strong seal.

After the handles were attached it was time to make sure they were straight and evenly curved.

The handles look ridiculously high but keep in mind they will droop down a certain amount so you always have to make them higher then you want them to be to get the perfect height in the end.

For now they will dry and await bisque firing :) I'll check on them again tomorrow to make sure the handles are still even.

Until next time!

A few in betweens

2011-02-14T19:00:00.010+09:00

So while I'm waiting for other things to be finished I thought I'd go back to a few of my recent pieces and show you what's become of them.

First is the teapot from the last noborigama. It has a handle now (plasic sadly since I couldn't find a bamboo one to fit) and is currently in use almost everyday. I make mostly green tea with a removable screen to keep the leaves inside. I love this teapot, but the only downside is it does dribble, only a few drops though.

Next is the teapot turned vase. It looks much better with flowers in it and in a normal household setting. I bought a Japanese ikebana base, which is basically a piece of heavy iron with sharp nails sticking out. The flowers are held up with it. It's cool since you can make the flowers look like they're in a natural setting, not all bunched together into one group like a traditional bouquet.

Next is an old vase I made awhile back. Very small, only fits a few flowers. But it's small and cute, great for my bedside shelf.

Lunch at home on another old piece. One of my first few plates I made in the beginning. Melted blue glass and a simple square design. Menu was pan fried white fish with tumeric, paprika, red pepper and lemon juice, salad and homemade bread.

Moving on I also finished carving the two hot water/ dashi containers. Carving these took along time since I had to put them on a separate knob with clay while working the wheel so they wouldn't touch. The edges are curved so carving them directly on the wheel like other pieces would not work. (Another reason why anything other than bowls or cups is expensive in the ceramics world haha)
They turned out nice and are a good weight now. (way too heavy before) Left one has a bulls-eye design on the bottom, right is a normal smooth cut. I will attach handles to these tonight. Both are ultra white shigaraki clay.

Last but not least, a very cool yunomi. (teacup) A nice wavy design and a straight edge on the bottom. This one also took some extra time due to the odd shape, but I love how it turned out. Even my teacher said how cool it was, and he never says stuff like that haha. It's also ultra white shigaraki clay. It is drying and will be bisque fired next week. I have no idea what color I'll do yet...

Until next time!

Coil Vase Pt. 6

2011-02-12T21:24:00.018+09:00

A few days ago I finally finished building my coil vase.

This is where I left it, lumpy. So It was time to shave off those unsightly lumps!

The vase was left to dry with only towels (no plastic this time) so it was the perfect hardness for carving.

I took my carving tool and as with most things you start from the bottom and work to the top.

I used the flat side of the tool since you can see what areas are still uneven. As you see in the picture the lighter spots are where I carved higher lumps off, the darker spots are still untouched. The goal is to get an even surface, and it's easy to tell since the clay will all be one color.
Like usual I put the vase on a table wheel, but since it's so tall it's easy to knock over. Holding the base of the neck and carving away at a diagonal angle ensures it won't fall over and that the clay is coming off evenly. (Carving straight or from side to side could leave unevenness, diagonal gives the most control, and it's a heck of a lot faster!)

It is basically the same pattern from here on out, diagonal carving.

Here is the base finished.

two thirds finished

Just a little more.

This last part of the top was actually the most difficult. Holding the vase steady and carving the softer top was a little more tricky. My arms and shoulders were pretty sore after from standing on a stool and stooping over.

2 hours later and done! Looks MUCH different from the lumpy version. Nice polished finish.

Here is a close up of the vase, nice and smooth.

The vase is still pretty thick even after shaving, which is a must since I plan to put big branches in it later on. So a good heavy base is in order.

The carving is done but the final touches are not. If you remember from my initial sketch, the mouth of the vase has a free form feel to it. So after lightly sketching with a felt marker the places I wanted to reduce, it was time to cut the excess away. I used a wire tool and steel cutter.

Here's after a few more cuts, still boxy and not very polished.

After some smoothing over it looks quite nice. Much more interesting than a normal boring vase.

Voila! It's "finished"!!!!!

It felt good to get this far.

So good I had to hug the vase out of pure joy :D

After another week of drying, it will get a green ware sanding down and dry for about 5-6 weeks before it can be bisque fired. More to come on it in mid-April!

Total hours so far= 15 hours
Total clay 10kilos-.75= 9.25 kilos

Until next time! With much happiness from Sara Yama Studio!

Coil Vase pt 5

2011-02-09T09:47:00.009+09:00

The coil vase has finally been finished being built.

Here is where I left it last week, at 68cm.

And as usual I made coils and started building the final 22 cm.

The last 22cm was more difficult than I had anticipated. Since it was getting so tall it was harder and harder to build higher and higher. The stool I placed it on was too high, but I couldn't move it to the floor since I most likely wouldn't be able to lift it up again without risking breakage once it was finished.

All minor set backs.

Here it is at 82cm, just a little more!

It was hard to build it at this point, the vase is very wobbly from the moist clay and it is so tall that any slight movement makes it shaky.

88cm! Only two more coils.

90cm!!!! Done!

In the end the vase needed 10 kilos of clay, half of what my teacher predicted :D yay!

But the vase is not finished yet. It's still super lumpy so I need to carve the excess off to get a nice polished look. It's too wet now to do anything so as usual I wrapped it in towels and will get back to it this Thursday. I will also shape the mouth of the vase and cut some parts away like this.

So the calculated price of the vase so far,
*will change since it is not finished

13 hours of work X 1000 yen= 13000 yen
10 kilos of clay X 450 yen= 4500 yen

Total so far= 17500yen

More to come soon~

Coil Vase pt 4 and the Wheel

2011-02-04T08:24:00.012+09:00

The days are finally starting to get longer so when I arrive at pottery in the evenings now there is still someday daylight to greet me :)

Here is the studio on Setsubun, February third. Setsubun is a Japanese tradition of chasing back luck out and good luck in.

Anyways,

I took out my coil vase again and started building as usual. Same process as before, make coils and build them on top, repeat.

Here is where I left the vase last time, 50cm.

58cm

62cm

68cm, this was as far as I could go last night. Like I said before I can only build 15-20cm at a time without the clay giving out. So I have about 20cm more before I'm done. I can't wait!

I'm up to 11 hours of work time and 8 kilos of clay.

The vase looks strange now, big on top etc but this will all be fixed later. I will carve off the lumps and such off after the piece has been built to 90cm.

I had another hour left so I used my remaining joshigaraki clay (上信楽) which was about 4 kilos to make a few things.

Two hot water holders and one cup.
The handles will be added next time.

This is a hot water teapot type thing that is in the studio that some one made awhile back. We use this thing for teatime and I absolutely love it. So I finally decided to make a few.

This is the larger of the two, but it will be smaller than the one in the studio, but not by too much. I figured it can be used for other things besides water, maybe sauce or dashi holder for sukiyaki and nabe cooking.

The second one is smaller than the first, so this one will be good for maybe serving milk or cream at breakfast or sauces.

Last was a cup, with waves on it. It'll be easy to hold and is a large size.

More to come next week!

Coil Vase pt 3 and Happy Birthday

2011-02-02T09:21:00.012+09:00

Last night we had a small belated birthday party for me at the pottery studio. We all brought a little snack and one of the ladies made me a delicious cake! It was so sweet! Thanks everyone!!

After a nice tea time I got to work on a few cups the were finished being bisque fired.

These are the bizen cups I made before new years that I put a slip on. It is my first time trying a slip on anything so I thought I'd go all out and do three.

The white is the slip, which won't change color much. The red is the iron color I love to use on bizen since it gets a nice metallic color. The other students who use slips a lot said they usually use a clear glaze but I thought that was a little too boring so I decided to do glaze X with an RF firing. It will turn out similar to this piece, but I don't know how the slip will look. Can't wait to see the end product!

Last but not least, the coil vase!
Now that the base has had some time to dry it was easier to build on top

Here is the vase before I started working on it last night, it's at about 32cm

It's the same from last time, build coils on top and repeat repeat repeat....This is my progress so far

One

Two

Three....at about 50cm. It is uneven, lumpy and slightly off balance

Smoothing out and centering such a big piece is pretty difficult and it will never be perfect but it turned out pretty well after some tweaking.

Smoothing the inside and pushing/pulling here and there do the trick.

I used the same wooden tool from before and good old fashion eyeballing it to try to make it symmetrical all around.

It was wrapped up again and is waiting for more height. Now that I'm at the narrow part building is much faster and easier than before, but it is more difficult to keep the neck straight and even. I can only build so much every day since the clay is soft and building too much will cause it to sway while drying, about 15cm to 20cm a time is a good pace to ensure it will dry correctly.

So far I'm up to nine hours of work and 6.5 kilos of clay. Much less clay than I predicted :D

But I got my bill for this month...37 kilos of clay, which is about $170 (16000yen) eeek! BUT it will last for at least 4-5 months and the cheap 450 yen price per kilo just cant be beat!

Until next time!

Just a Few Things

2011-02-01T09:18:00.005+09:00

The RF pieces I was waiting for have come out of the kiln.

First was the teapot turned vase. It turned out better than I thought shape wise (didn't sink too much, only slightly on one side) but the color is so so. It's not what I wanted but it's a nice basic vase for flowers. Once I get one of those iron flower holders used for ikebana I'll be able to do some neat arrangements. This was white clay with N glaze RF firing.

*Crappy picture alert, sorry they're blurry*

Next was a mixed clay cup I made. This I'm very happy with. Great shape, wonderful color. The base glaze is W with a R dip on the rim. The W glaze has a slightly metallic color and the R part has a nice purple/green undertone to it.

Close up of R and W glazes. Just love the color. This is a mixed clay so I'm sure this color is a result of the mix of bizen and red stone clay since they have a higher metallic content than other clays, which shows in while using certain glazes.

Last is a piece my friend Daisy made when she came to visit the studio. She made a small teacup on the wheel and I carved and glazed it for her.

I used the new X glaze RF firing with red iron glaze brush patterns. Bizen clay

The color turned out great I think, so I'll definitely be using this combo of glazes again.

Until next time!

Making a Coil Vase pt.2

2011-01-27T08:00:00.001+09:00

My vase was kept safely in layers of plastic and moist towels so when I took it out last night to continue working on it it was at the perfect stage.

Before continuing I had to score the last edge and moisten up the area to ensure the new fresh clay would blend well with the more dry base. This was the hardest part since the base clay didn't move much but it was fine in the end.

There is not much else to explain at this point except just keeping adding coils on over and over. This photo is at about 6 coils, about 25 cm.

The most difficult part was building without bringing in the mouth too much. Here after about 10 coils you can see how much the mouth of the vase has closed up. This was not good. If I kept going at this pace the vase would close up at only 30cm (and I want 90cm)

But lucky for me Arai Sensei helped me out and showed me how to stretch the clay out. You can see the difference from the photo above. The mouth has been widened. I used the same wooden smoothing tool from pt 1 to smooth the inside. But instead I used a little more force and formed the clay to the correct shape. I was lucky enough to have made the coils thick enough to allow this stretching and leeway to happen.

If you look at the photos from top to bottom you can see I made this mistake right from the beginning. I should've tried to build the coils upwards instead of inwards from the beginning last night. But crises was averted.

While building it's important to check above and at eye level to make sure the piece is being built evenly all around. I put the vase onto a table top wheel to make it easier to build and see if it was even. A quick spin will show lumps and unevenness, as long as the vase is centered.

After checking for lumps and bumps I did some final smoothing out and this is the final result for now. It was re-wrapped and is waiting for the next set of coils. It is at about 32cm now. The next step should be faster and easier. One third of the way done! I'm up to 5 kg and 6 hours of time...

ps. I know it looks lumpy now but that will change along the road since the outside will get shaved.

Until next time!

Finished Things

2011-01-26T08:00:00.001+09:00

First and foremost my teacher, Arai Sensei had a small article printed about him in the Nishi Nihon Newspaper. Just a basic article about how he got into pottery and his style. Congratulations Arai Sensei! The picture is cute too, it's the blue outfit he always wears at the studio :)

Next are all the pieces I made before New Years that have finally been glazed and fired. Sorry for the low quality images.

Large serving plate made with bizen clay. New X glaze, red iron brush designs below and my signature circle line carvings. OF firing. I like the iridescent coloring, gives the plate a nice smokey blue color.

Very flat leaf plate, I plan to use it for gyoza. Bizen clay, X glaze red iron brush design OF firing.

Mixed clay bowl, X base glaze with a few N accent spots. OF firing

Mixed clay, X glase with W glaze rim, OF firing

black stone clay, R glaze OF firing. Shot with food, love how the plate makes the food colors pop

Mixed clay bowl, X glaze OF firing

Mixed clay cup, M base with R rim, OF firing

re-fired from noborigama. Black stone clay, R glaze OF firing

Re-fired from noborigama. Black stone clay, R glaze. This turned out better than before but it's still missing something...Still determining if I want to add more glaze and fire it again.

Last are some green ware pieces. All are Bizen clay and I put a slip of a mate glaze on them. It's my first time trying this out but one of the other students said they turn out pretty neat so I thought I'd give it a try. These will all be bisque fired, and then glazed again and fired again. The slip should stand out on the finished piece if I use a clear glaze on the final firing. We'll see what happens :)

Small and slender vase

Coffee cup

I'm still waiting on the RF pieces. More to come soon!

Making a Coil Vase Pt. 1

2011-01-25T08:00:00.003+09:00

Sadly my time at Sara Yama Studio is coming to an end. With less than a year left I need to start planning and thinking about what last final statement pieces I want to make before I move on to another new studio.

First on my list is a big floor vase. I've always loved vases and I love giant flower arrangements. So the planning and initial making of the vase has begun.

Before starting I did a few sketches of my fav. styles and deigns and decided on this one. Long tear drop style vase with a natural free form mouth. I was hoping to make something super huge BUT of course I am limited by the kiln size, max height of 94 cm, so I decided to make this one 90cm.

A vase this size needs about 20kg of clay, so this is no easy or cheap project to take on. If you think about basic price (450 yen per kilo, great price!) 20x450=9000yen or about $100. PLUS time spent making it, let's say 10 hours and a 1000yen($10) an hour price(which is an extremely cheap labor price) is another 10000 yen. Plus theres the glaze and electricity it takes to fire the thing. I'd say about 25000 yen or $270 minimum price tag.

Only when I started pottery did I realize why pieces like this have such a high price tag. The time, money and materials it takes to make a large object is massive. Now I finally understand why those plant pots at the garden center cost so much :p

To make a coil pot you need to start with a thick base, like this one in the picture. I put it on a spinning plate to make it easier to build upon later on.

Of course to make a coil pot you need tons of coils. The best way to make one is by starting off with a yam shaped lump of clay and rolling it outwards. You must make sure they are the same thickness throughout to ensure the piece won't be lumpy, otherwise it could collapse or be uneven later on.

After making about 10 coils you should be ready to start building.
When not using the coils it's best to cover them with a towel so they won't crack and dry out. Make the coils bigger than you think they should be since they will get used up in the process.

Next take a comb tool and score the edges of the base where the coil will be attached.

To ensure a good seal it's best to use liquid clay on the scored edges before putting the first coil on.

It should look something like this after brushing it on.

Next you're ready to put the first coil on. A nice thick one is best since this is the base and you'll need lot's of support once it gets higher and higher.

The next coil should not go directly over the previous, instead it should be placed half way inside. The coil must also be put on a little at a time. So one hand is holding the remaining coil while the other hand is gently pushing it down onto the previous coil.

Remember this phrase, "outside bottom, inside top"
Always start smoothing the coil from the outside, bringing clay UP from the bottom. Then after that is finished you can move to the inside and push the clay down from the top. You can see what I mean in the two shots above.

REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT.

Eventually it'll get higher and higher and start to look like something. Here the vase is about 10 cm tall. (Took about 2 hours)

2.5 hours later. Keeping the shape of my vase in mind I kept measuring and making sure I was building the vase at the right angle. Since I want a teardrop shape I had to calculate at what height it would be the widest, so keeping that in mind I kept building outward. (Widest point is at 13.5 cm)

Nearly three hours later. This is as far as I could get last week so I made sure the vase was even on all sides (no edges sticking out and not too wobbly)

I then used this handy little wooden tool to shape the inside and outside. It gave the vase a nice smooth finish. The outside isn't so important now since later on it will get shaved off anyways, so I mainly smoothed the inside.

For now a damp towel is put on to keep in moisture for when I want to build more coils on top. I hope to have this vase built by the beginning of feb. but we'll see :)

More vase building to come soon ;)

Until next time!

Other Nobori Pieces

2011-01-19T08:00:00.000+09:00

Besides the teapot I had many other pieces in the December noborigama. My second fav was this giant coffee/tea/soup cup. The color turned out great and it's so easy to use.

Inside of the cup. I love the great white and blue color of the glaze :)

Here are my 6 free form plates I made awhile back. I used three different glazes and the air gun to color them. They were a mix of several different clays.

The swirls of the different clays are very subtle but there. You can also see the different glaze colors as well, though it is very discreet.

Last but not least are the pieces that didn't turn out as planned. The vase's kohagi glaze didn't run very well and was only half done in a sense. The same goes with the two small bowls. The glaze (kohagi again) was only half fired so these three are now in the electric kiln getting re-fired. It's not a big deal, they will still turn out quite nicely and the color will retain from the noborigama :)

Until next time!

New Pieces

2011-01-18T10:53:00.008+09:00

So after almost three weeks of vacation and not being in the studio many pieces I started before 2011 are all ready for firing!
First was the supposed teapot turned vase. After bisque firing it turned out pretty well. After some sanding I glazed it with a color I have never used before. N glaze. It should turn out something like this. But you never know, this is a large piece so the color could be different.
I'm hoping the top won't sink down much, but my teacher says it's a 50/50 chance >< Here's hoping it doesn't!

Next were a bunch of bowls and two large plates. The plates are bizen while the bowls are a mix of clays. The plates also have a red brush design on them which you can see in the picture. There is also another plate that is not picture here, it is black stone clay with kohagi glaze and looks very similar to this only bigger.

This is a brand new glaze, glaze X. It's a very mild color but I wanted to give it a try. Left is OF and right if RF coloring. The OF version is very similar to glaze U which is also a yellow color and the RF is similar to glaze L. I used this glaze for all the plates and bowls from the picture above. (Pictures and exact combos of glazes to come next week)

Last were two coffee cups and a small bowl. Final pictures to come soon!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-14T09:26:00.008+09:00

It's been quite awhile since I have posted anything, but my pottery life is finally back on its normal schedule. I finally managed to pick up my noborigama pieces and for the most part the turned out great! Today I'll show you my beloved teapot!

Front View
First and foremost is my wonderful teapot. It turned out absolutely they way I wished. Great color, nice glaze run and good shape. Bonus: the water doesn't dribble! It pours nice and smooth like a factory made teapot :) I'm so proud of this piece!

*I'm still searching for the perfect bamboo handle!

Back view
You can see the small spot I put all over the body. I think they turned out great, they blend in just enough but also add texture and interest.

Close up
I initially thought the glaze would turn out like this. But of course even if something is the same clay and same glaze the wood kiln will always surprise you! This time the bizen clay turned a wonderful bronze color and the blue glaze turned a nice deep black navy, with bright blue towards the bottom of the dripping glaze. There is also a slight outline of the glaze, which also looks great. (You can somewhat see it in the picture to the left here)

Inside view
Although this picture doesn't show it very well, the inside of the teapot is a bright blue color. I think this is so neat that it turned out this way. It's almost a surprise when you take the lid off since you wouldn't expect the inside to be bright blue :)

All in all I'm so happy! Can't wait to start on my new teapot!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-27T10:52:00.005+09:00

The noborigama was a complete success and it seems everything came out well, but I haven't seen my pieces yet. I couldn't make it when they were taking the pieces out, but I'll pick them up today after work. (I'll post about the noborigama after new years)

Since the noborigama I had a few hours at the studio, where I tried to get rid of all my old clay so I can start fresh from the new year.

*Santa was made by a weekend student

First I made a cup and small vase last week which were too soft to carve this week. (Bizen clay) These will hopefully not be too dry after new years to carve.

Since I couldn't carve the vase and cup I made three new cups out of leftover bizen clay. These are also currently waiting to be carved. They should be fine until after new years.

Last but not least was a big leaf plate out of the last bizen clay I had. It's about 5mm thick and 20 cm wide. Of course it will shrink after drying and firing, but I'm hoping it'll be a good gyoza (aka Japanese dumplings) plate.

That's all for now! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! See you in 2011!

Putting Around

2010-12-17T09:12:00.005+09:00

It was a slow and relaxing day at pottery last night :) Since I don't have too much clay I've been taking my time with things and only making a few pieces each time.

I started with two cups that were a mix of leftover clays. Mostly bizen, black stone and red stone. They turned out pretty well, just simple normal cups. One classic cup shape and one wavy style cup.
I had three cups but once I took the last off the wheel it warped slightly when i placed it on the board to dry...so i decided to scrap it.

I had about 1 kg left of clay after wards so I made another free form plate. This one was much larger, 34cm diameter, 5mm thick.
Actually to get the roundness Arai Sensei has a fishing buoy lying around to form clay around. It looks pretty ridiculous in the studio but it works :)

I did my signature simple design on the front and called it a day. For now this will dry and won't get fired until next year.

The noborigama is finally tomorrow :) I'll do a three hour shift with everyone else but I'll most likely stick around and finish up some final work before the 2 week holiday vacation. I'm looking forward to all the delicious goodies everyone will bring tomorrow.

Japan has a lot of funny displays around for X-mas. I found these birds at a family restaurant near by. One has a Santa hat but the other a witch hat...haha Ohh Japan ><

Until next time!

Last few days

2010-12-15T10:17:00.010+09:00

There are only 2 more days until the studio closes for the new year's holiday so I've been trying to finish all my little projects here and there so I can have a fresh start for 2011.

First is the supposed teapot I made awhile back. After thinking about it for two weeks, I decided to make a vase out of it. The size and shape were just too awkward to make it a usable teapot. It'll look better as a flower vase in the end.

I am a little worried about the top since it will most likely sink down past the outer walls. I tried to curve it upwards but it just wouldn't stay...I'm hoping the clay won't give too much.

For now this will dry and get fired from next year.

I'm thinking this color for the vase, I like the simpleness and the brown contrast on the rim and handle.

*This cup was made by Miss Yamaguchi, Thursday night student.

Remember this cup from awhile back? Well I cracked it and hoped another trip to the kiln would seal the glaze back together and make it like new again.

Well that idea didn't work out...It cracked even more and left a space in between, which you can see in this picture. Since I like the cup I decided to try to salvage it anyways since even with the space it's still usable. I mixed some bonding agent (like a strong plastic) together and put it in between the gap. It'll dry for a few days and I'll grind away the excess later on. Darn, I really like this cup!

I also made a free form plate yesterday out of leftover black stone clay. It's about 20cm wide and 5mm thick. Perfect size for dinner. (Pasta, salad, curry etc)

Of course I can't resist putting the small warts on the black clay so that is exactly what I did :)

With a little scoring and water they fit in perfectly.

After adding about 20 balls the finished result is this. I plan on using kohagi glaze since it goes so well with black stone clay. The end result should look like this.

This Saturday is the Noborigama! Can't wait!

Until next time :)

Into the Nobori

2010-12-13T11:14:00.006+09:00

It's less than a week away until the last noborigama of 2010! This time around I have tons of pieces going inside.

The piece I'm looking forward to the most is the teapot I slaved over for nearly 6 weeks. It has finally been bisque fired and glazed.

Since I used bizen clay, I decided to only glaze certain parts of it since the noborigama will bring out great natural colors from the clay. The glaze is A, a bright blue glaze which will accent well with the rich brown and gold color of the clay.

A birds eye view. The cup on the top is A glaze. I poured the glaze on the teapot since I love the effect. I want it to seem that someone just splashed a beautiful blue color on it.

The resulting color should look something like this. (My mothers plate from September) I love the blue and gold specs from the clay. The outline of the glaze is also neat, hope it turns out similar!

Besides my beloved teapot, I have many more pieces going in! Some are pictured below :)

Until next time!

Grinding Away

2010-12-09T09:59:00.010+09:00

Real heat has finally come to Sara Yama Studio! A brand new GIANT kerosene heater was bought :) This baby is no joke! After 10 minutes the entire place was toasty and warm :D I'm so happy! It's so much easier to work on things now that my hands won't be half numb.
I hear next AC will be coming, but not for a new more years, sadly I won't be around for that. Maybe next is heated water? Here's hoping...

Anyways, a few things have come out of the kiln. I apologize for the terrible photos! I give up on my smart phone camera, the color and focusing is just terrible...

First is this large coffee cup. Mixed clay with a few swirls of U underneath and L glaze on top. Turned out well, a very mild green blue.

Here is an close up of the two glazes. U is the darker accent color and L is the base.

Next was the lamp I've been waiting forever for. This is pretty small, maybe softball size with holes allowing light to shine through. Eventually I'll head to the hardware store and find a small lightbulb and cord to put inside.
Bizen clay with M glaze. It turned out exactly how I thought it would :)

Last was another coffee cup. (This pic is terrible!) The color turned out magnificently on it! Mixed clay, base of E glaze (nice red) and dipped the rim in U glaze. The combo was great! And the flow of U onto E looks great :)

But there was one problem, both E and U run very easily so....

I had a lot of glaze stuck to the bottom. Luckily Arai Sensei could chip it off the stone plate inside the kiln. (More so than not, the pieces end up cracking if they're too difficult to pry off) I've seen worse cases then mine, but this is slightly a lot of glaze on the bottom.

But not to worry, if done the right way, this piece is salvageable.

First I picked off as much of the glaze as I could with my fingers, but it wasn't much. So the next step is to grind it off.
There are two grinders at the studio, one is a hand held grinder (pictured left) and the other is a wall mounted circle grinder. The hand grinder is more so for small amounts of glaze, it's easy to handle and there is a less chance of messing up.

But of course safety first! Always wear goggles and try to wear a dust mask while using any sort of grinder. They give off a lot of dust and occasionally large pieces of glaze will come flying up into your face. Sara Yama Studio has really cool safety glasses too! OOhhh Yeaaah. Thumbs up :D

I started out with the hand grinder but soon realized I'd be grinding away all night if I continued using it. So I switched to the mounted grinder outside, which is much faster and stronger, making it easier to grind away too much and leave the base uneven. (Def. not good for a cup)
After about 15min of grinding, I finally got most of the glaze off. (Sorry no pictures of the mounted grinder, it was too dark) I had a few scuffs but all in all the base came out very well and the cup is even.
Here is the finished product.
I was either lucky with how this turned out or my grinder skills have gotten better. It looks like there was never any glaze melted there in the first place :) I'll be more careful next time and make sure I leave some leeway for the glazes to melt so I won't have to waste time doing this again.

Drink Set

2010-12-06T10:59:00.007+09:00

Remember these? The cups from awhile back? Well they have finally been fired.

Four cups and one small pitcher makes the set.
Bizen clay with an accent red color. RF firing.

I made the group with two sets of different sized cups. Two tall cups, maybe for hot sake, and two short cups maybe for iced sake.

Here is the biggest piece, the pitcher. It holds about 250mm of liquid. Perfect for nihonshu or shochu (both are types of Japanese sake) The red brush strokes stand out a lot on this piece.

Having a something like this in your kitchen is pretty convenient. You can use it for many things besides sake. It's useful for when you're cooking, adding liquids into a pan, serving gravy or sauces at the dinner table, or storing extra juice or tea.

Here are the two tall cups, as you can tell, they're not perfectly symmetrical. I did that on purpose since I think it's more interesting to have a matching but yet non matching set instead of all the all same thing. You can buy the same shapes at normal stores, but it's harder to find the same series with different shapes and sizes. I guess I'm going for a one of a kind type of thing.
If you're not a big sake fan, they could be small flower vases :)

Here are the shorter two. Besides sake, these cups could also be used for tea.

Here is a close up of the coloring. I love L glaze since it has this beautiful cracking. The color is also mild and easy on the eyes. It goes well with bizen clay and this red accent under glaze.

An interesting thing about finished pieces like this is when you take them home they have to adjust to the temperature and humidity. So The glaze will crack according to the environment it's in. The cracking makes a beautiful sounds too, a light "ping" sound which is actually the glaze settling into the piece.

Another cool fact is bigger pieces will continue to "ping" occasionally here and there for many months, sometimes years. The big turtle I made will still occasional "ping," especially when the seasons are changing. Pretty neat :D

Until next time!

All By Myself

2010-12-03T10:37:00.006+09:00

Arai Sensei was out sick and all the other students who come on Thursday nights were absent so I was the only one in the studio. It was a little eerie at first but after I connected my i-pod to the stereo it was awesome! I had a little taste of what it would be like having my own studio.

First I worked on two black stone cups I made a few weeks ago. They got shaved and handles attached, they're drying and will hopefully be bisque fired before the noborigama.

I also had a huge chunk of mixed clays ready for the wheel. (Sorry this picture is out of focus, I took it in a hurry) I made the pieces in order from left to right.
The flower looking bowl was going to be a plate but I stretched it on the wheel too much and it started to get wobbly. I decided to go with it and make something a little more artsy this time. I love these types of free form shapes and it can still be used for food since it is big enough.

The middle bowl is just a simple everyday use bowl, maybe cereal, oatmeal, curry or salad.
Far right bowl is a simple soup bowl. It's pretty deep and can hold about 300mm of liquid. Maybe useful for miso or chicken noodle :)

I didn't feel like dealing with the square teapot body so it's still sitting in the styrofoam box. Maybe next week I'll decide its future.

Arai Sensei said he should be back next week. Hope he feels better! It was great having the place to myself, but a little lonely!

Until next time :)

Another Teapot?

2010-12-02T09:23:00.000+09:00

Yes, maybe another teapot is in the works. The wheel thrown teapot turned out pretty well (still waiting to be bisque fired) and since then I've been dreaming about a having a square teapot as well. I've been paging through my Lark Book (500 Teapots) and have come across quite a few which I love. Basically the book was inspiration to create a hand built teapot, which I'll detail about below.

Creating a block type object requires straight and measure slabs of even clay. So first I had to roll out the clay to even thickness, and cut to my desires measurements. 18cmx18cm base and 10cm tall sides (square teapot)

Using the fleshly cut and rolled out clay isn't practical since it's still way to soft to stand on its own. So I let mine sit for 2 days in a Styrofoam box with some towels. Once I took the pieces out they were still a little wobbly so I stacked them between drywall boards to suck up some more moisture. This step is a little tricky since you have to keep checking them about every 5 min to make sure they're not getting too dry. (otherwise they'll crack)

The it's time to start putting those pieces together. I scored the edges where each piece would attach and used liquid clay (super soft clay goop type stuff) and a brush to make sure everything was attached. Of course there were some spots that needed a little extra so I had some soft clay on hand to smooth out edges and fill in gaps.

Next it was time for the top to be put on, the trickiest part. I wanted a very square like shape so to make the lid coincide with the base being level after firing, I had to make it slightly curved. When clay is fired it always sags a bit so you have to predict and make up the difference. A slight curve will ensure the top comes out level. (and of course I couldn't forget the hole on the top to put hot water inside)

After sealing and sag preparation is done it looks something like this. There is newspaper stuffed inside to make sure the top doesn't drop down while waiting to be bisque fired.

It looks nice but to my dismay its pretty heavy and I'm just not into it. I have the tendency to make things too small and regret it later, but this time I tried not to do that and ended up with something too big. Probably 15cm would've been better than 18.

It's currently waiting for me in the styrofoam box, but most likely it'll turn into a vase or get doused with water and remade. *Sigh...

Latelies

2010-11-29T11:27:00.011+09:00

It's been another sporadic week at Sara Yama Studios, dentist appointments and national holidays threw my usual days at the studio off. Arai Sensei also had an exhibition of his work at his studio. So he was pretty busy with that up until lately so most of the pieces I made awhile back haven't come out of the kiln until now. Since it is also the end of November the fall colors around the studio are amazing. Here is a shot from the river flowing through the back area of the studio. The yellow ginko tree looks quite lovely now :)

First were some coffee cups I made awhile back that were back from bisque firing. These are a mix of clays but are mostly red stone clay.

The cup in the middle (which I forgot to take a picture of was U, kiseto and is going into the December noborigama)

The base glaze for this one was E, or tetsu aka a very nice red glaze with brown and gold undertones. On the cups tip I did U or kiseto, a mild yellow color. I've never done this combo before so it'll be interesting to see how they turn out.

Last cup I did a swirl design of U under a full top glaze of L or shinsha.

****Correction****

Back on my colors blog I used the wrong glaze for U or kiseto. The glaze that is pictured here is actually glaze N NOT glaze U. The real color of Glaze U is a mild mustard yellow. Sorry for the confusion. I'll fix the color blog entry soon.

Next were two bowls, black stone clay. I used R or Kohagi glaze on these and they will also go into the noborigama in a few weeks.

Last were the mixed clay plates I made a few weeks ago with all my leftovers.

These will go into the noborigama, but I didn't want to cover the cool clay swirls with a thick glaze, so I brought out the air gun again :)

I did a light glaze of L, E and U. I'm hoping the results will be a wonderful but defined blend of the three. I tried to keep each color on one third of the plate, but since the noborigama's heat is unpredictable I won't know how they'll turn out until I see them.

Until next time!

Slow Day

2010-11-17T09:30:00.007+09:00

It was a slow night at Sara Yama Studio. I had no new bisque fired pieces to glaze and only two bowls to finished shaving. I also had one bowl/cup from last week that I attached a handle to. (far right) All three pieces turned out well, they are currently drying and awaiting bisque firing. I used black stone clay, most likely I'll put these in the nobori and use kohagi glaze. Other than these bowls it was a night for catching up on things and organizing my clay.

Making things on the wheel and shaving pieces down leaves you with odd amounts of clay here and there. So the best (and most fun) thing to do is mix all the old bits of clay together to create a workable amount of clay. And that is exactly what I did last night. I had about 1 kilo leftover from these plates ( mix of bizen, black stone, red stone and possibly a tad of white shigaraki) a few scraps of red shigaraki, and a half kilos worth of red stone shigaraki mixed with bizen. All these different clay scraps were at different moisture levels so it was hard to knead them together. Instead I kneaded them separately, and smooshed them together afterward. I then placed the 2-3 kilo mass into a plastic bag and misted it with water. Letting it sit for a few days will help the moisture even out and make the mass easier to knead next time.

The only bummer about this batch of mixed clay is since I added red shigaraki (which has a high iron content, making it easy to explode) I shouldn't put it in the noborigama. There is still a possibility I could add it, but I would have to knead the clay very well to make sure its distributed evenly making the risk of cracking low. I still have to discuss the details with Arai Sensei, since it is a small amount maybe I'm worrying too much.

After finally getting rid of all those small pieces of clay I finally got to open a new bag of clay I bought over 2 months ago. Jo shigaraki 上信楽, or snow white shigaraki as I like to call it. I have seen other students use this clay before, once it is fired it turns a pure white color and has an extremely smooth texture. (Pictures of fired pieces to come next time) I had always wanted to try this clay but always missed my chance when Arai Sensei made his order, last time I was on top of my game and finally got my hands on 6 kilos.

I had been waiting for a slow night to give this new clay a go. I took about 2.5 kilos from the mass, started kneading and IMMEDIATELY noticed a huge difference from other clays. It was like kneading melted butter! Effortless, easy and smooth. I could even use my (still) injured wrist like normal without pain. It was love at first touch :)

After a few minutes of kneading, the clay turned a light gray color and was ready for the wheel. The wheel was even more luxurious than I thought it would be. Compared to all the other clays I've worked with, this felt like silk running through my hands and fingers. No numbness from stones or gritty sand. No cuts and scratches. No arm pain from trying to center the clay.
There had to be a catch, I stopped the wheel and went to console with Arai Sensei. He warned me that since this clay is so smooth is topples very easily and is not as stable as other clays with more sand and stones.

"Is that it? No other catch?"
"Nope, that's about it, the clay is strong like all other clays when fired so you can make anything you like." he said.
So I went back to the wheel and discovered another downside...Jo Shigaraki clay is easy to get air bubbles...Although kneading was a breeze, I didn't know until I started making a cup that there were tons of air bubbles in the clay. At first I thought it was just a fluke but the next cup had the same problem...I managed to pop most of them but it left me worried that there were bubbles I missed. If there are air bubbles in a piece, they will end up exploding in the kiln. Sometimes severely (The whole thing breaking) and sometimes not so much. (just some cracks) Of course this wasn't the clays fault, it was my kneading technique (which I am still not a master of) So next time I knead Jo Shigaraki I will have to be extra cautious. I scrapped the cups and called it a night.

I'll be back to the studio again tonight to try at it again :) Until next post!

From Sara Yama

It's Finally Fall!

2010-11-13T20:58:00.010+09:00

The surrounding park around Sara Yama is finally starting to change colors. Here is a ginkgo tree near the public restrooms. The picture doesn't do it justice but the tree is a magnificent yellow green color! I'm sure by next weekend it'll be glowing yellow. Kyushu doesn't have as spectacular color change as northern Japan does but there are patches of red and yellow on the mostly green mountain sides :)

I spent most of my Saturday afternoon catching up on work at the studio since I am still behind from summer vacation.

Anyways! Here's what's been going on lately :)

It is already the middle of November and that means the next noborigama is only a month away! So it is time to start thinking about what I want to put in this time around. Last September I did not plan well and wished I had more pieces to put in, but I think this time I'll have too many to count! Adding to a large vase (remember this thing! I almost forgot about it) and my recent teapot. Now I also have 6 mixed clay plates to add. They are about 4mm thick and about a hands width wide. (Of course they will shrink slightly after firing) I mixed bizen, black stone, red stone and possibly a tad of white shigaraki. These were just free form made plates, and are currently drying/ waiting for bisque firing.

The key to getting a nice swirl like this is mixing the clays while they're very soft, and not kneading too much. The more you knead, the more the clay will blend together and the less each color will stand out.

I'm sure these will turn out great in the noborigama. The mix of clays will for sure make a great color. I haven't decided if I'll give some a slight glaze or not, since nobori pieces look best without glaze since the wood brings out great color. Nobori pieces also don't need a glaze to be used with food. The high temp and long firing time makes the clay strong enough to be used as a normal glazed plate.

Next a drink set I made awhile back has been bisque fired.

Bizen clay, with a swirl design of L on the side (top rust colored tea cup sample) and a top color of I.(bottom whitish tea cup sample) These will be RF fired. Can't wait to see how they turn out!

I also got around to my night lamp. I spray glazed it with M, OF firing.

This is glaze M in the daylight. Great darker brown with yellow undertones. I sprayed it since it needed a very thin layer of glaze. Dipping this piece would clog the holes where the light should come out of. Should turn out well with this light glaze. Hopefully I can find a tiny light bulb and cord to fit with it.

I also finished some coffee cups I made last Thursday night. I shaved and attached handles to them today. These are another mix clay batch, but are mostly red stone clay.

I have many mixed pieces since I am trying to use up all my leftover clay. And actually the mixed clay pieces usually turn out much cooler than the one clay pieces. Arai Sensei actually has his own mix of clay he uses.

Last piece of the day. A huge black stone clay coffee/soup cup. The handle was still too squishy to apply so I'll do that next week Tuesday.

Until next time! From Sara Yama :)

Loading the Kiln and Bowls

2010-11-11T14:50:00.003+09:00

It has been a busy fall at Sara Yama Studios for Arai Sensei so firings have been a little behind schedule. Last week I had some free time at the end of class so I watched (and helped where I could) with loading the kiln for a bisque firing.

Here is the kiln half full, as you can see everything must be sized to fit on certain shelves. The height of the blocks between each rock sheet determines the height of each level.

There are large pieces on top of the kiln that are drying, the heat in this room helps take out the final moisture before firing.

Short pieces are on the bottom and tall pieces towards the top. Arai Sensei is a pro at putting in as many pieces as possible. He said this type of thing would be great for people who like puzzles haha.

Here is the kiln all loaded and ready. There are at least 150 pieces crammed in. One thing I did not know was that for bisque firing it is OK if pieces are touching each other. (Obviously glazed pieces cannot since they will melt together) The only thing the pieces cannot touch is the wall of the kiln.

This batch is ready for firing. Since it is an electric kiln all Arai Sensei has to do is turn it to the right program and push the start button, everything else is automated. About 30 hours later the kiln has cooled off and is ready to be unloaded.

Interesting fact: The monthly kiln electricity bill is about 70,000 yen! (about $750) So on average each firing costs about 10,000 yen! ($112!) Luckily the town helps cover the fees, making Sara Yama one of the cheapest places to learn pottery in Kyushu. I've checked other studios in and around Fukuoka city (Biggest city in Kyushu) and the prices are much higher for everything! About 1500yen for 1 kilo of clay compared to Sara Yama's 450yen. Also the Fukuoka studios charge by the gram for firings. (About 2.5 yen per gram) YIKES!

Anyways, here are three bowls I have made recently out of kuromikage or black stone clay. They are currently waiting to be shaved at the bottom.

Over view of the bowls.

After loading the kiln we had cream cheese salmon roe crackers! One of the older ladies brought some very good roe and I brought the cream cheese and crackers (which none of them had tried before!) It was a hit :) Oishikatta!

Until next time!

I can finally move on!

2010-11-10T15:00:00.013+09:00

After a long 6 weeks, I am finally done with the teapot. I had a few mishaps along the way...lid not fitting, my teacher (Left photo) had to fix the spout for me since I cracked it etc...But all the hard work has paid off! Here are the final steps! (mishaps included)

After starting to carve the teapot spout (which was extremely fragile and brittle) I accidentally cracked it. But never fear! Arai Sensei was there! After getting all panicked my teacher came over and calmly fixed the crack.

Here he is taking some of the leftover bizen clay and mending the crack. He used water, a carving knife and a brush. First dipping the brush in the water he lightly brushed the crack. This filled it with a very small amount water which made the bonding of both sides much easier. He then took some bizen clay (about a a 10yen coin size worth) and started molding back the areas that had crumbled away. It's hard to tell in this picture but he is moving the blade towards the body, not away from it. (I did the opposite which led to the crack in the first place) Going towards the body provides more support for the spout and lessens the chance of cracks or unwanted large pieces breaking off.

Since the water from the brush needs to soak in overnight I couldn't carve the teapot anymore than night. So I put it away and came back to it the next week.

The next class, it was time to carve the spout for the final time and attach the handle rings to the teapot body. Before attaching the rings it is important to finish carving since it can be difficult with the rings. They could get knocked off or bent.

After gingerly carving the spout it was time to attach the rings. I first eye measure where I wanted the rings placed and scored the bonding spots on both the teapot body and rings. I then used a liquefied form of the bizen clay and a brush to ensure a good seal. Although the teapot and rings were much drier than the liquid clay, Arai Sensei insured me that the bond would be very strong since the moisture would serve as a sealing agent.

Moving quickly I attached the rings to the front and back. I also checked above and around to make sure the rings were at the level and angle I wanted.

After the rings were attached the area around them was lumpy and ugly so I took some of the liquid clay and brush it around to make a nice smooth surface. (I used my fingers and some water too) Some may think the spout is rather long but this is actually a must since the tip of the spout has to coincide with the water level inside the pot. If the spout mouth is too low the water will leak out.

Voila! A complete teapot!!! ALMOST! I thought the teapot needed a little extra design element so I added some warts (as one of my fellow students called them) to the outside.

As you may remember I have done this one other time on a small plate. It turned out really well and would love to see the same for the teapot. Although they may look like warts to some, I think it looks cool :)

The final touch was a small 2mm ball on the underside of the spout tip. I was worried about the spout dribbling (since it is very hard to make a smooth pouring spout) So my teacher said putting this small ball on the underside will help catch the water and prevent it from dribbling down the side. Hope it works!

In the meantime the teapot will dry and get bisque fired, glazed and will be put into the winter (dec 18th) noborigama. So actually I won't get to see it until 2011!

Until next time!!!

Glass plates

2010-11-03T22:23:00.006+09:00

It has been quite awhile since I have had any new pieces come out of the kiln, so this past firing many new things (that I've been anxiously waiting for) came out! Everything turned out wonderful this time, couldn't be happier!

First and most importantly are the glass plates I made awhile back! Here is my favorite piece, which turned out EXACTLY how I wished it would :) Like I predicted the glass stayed within the carved areas and created a beautiful image of a Japanese flower called higanbana, which only comes out in early fall. I would have liked the glass to be red, but actually the blue has grown on me, it looks good with the green glaze and pops really well.

Here is a close up of the glass. You can see small melting cracks, which add character and interest. I personally love the glass look!

This plate was white stone shigaraki clay with blue glass and a sprayed on glaze of U and J. OF firing.

Next was another glass plate with a leaf motif. Bizen clay with U glaze and green glass, OF firing. (which melts the glass better than RF firing)

Close up, the glass spread a little beyond the leaves but it still looks nice :)

Last of thie plate series is the bubble glass plate. Bizen clay with U glaze and dark blue glass, OF firing. I also love how this one turned out as well.

Close up of the glass

Besides the plates I also had quite a few cups and a few small bowls.
Here are two bizen cups with glaze K . The color is great, I'll def try this combo again. RF firing.

The bizen clay and K glaze gave a nice green color with some light blue drip lines.

Next, two more bizen clay cups with I glaze and M glaze design brushed on. It was my first time using I and it turned out quite nicely. I love the mild blue/green color.

Bird eye view shot, left cup is a swirl design, right cup line and spot design.

Close up, loved this design, will paint it again. Has a delicate handle and wide mouth, great for tea.

Delicate swirl design, another good wide tea cup and a slightly larger flat handle.

Last but not least, two white stone shigaraki clays, left R glaze and right S glaze (another new glaze to me) RF firing.

It will be awhile until I have some completed pieces again. The teapot is still under way and a bunch of new cups are currently drying and waiting for bisque firing. More to come next week!

Check out Oct 19th's blog to see all these pieces before firing
http://overasiaandbackagain.blogspot.com/2010/10/break-from-tp.html

Teaching the Teachers

2010-10-23T22:52:00.005+09:00

It was a great Friday night at Sara Yama Studios. 16 teachers, parents and kids came in from one of the elementary schools I teach at for a pottery lesson. I never turn down a chance to be at the studio so I volunteered my time and limited knowledge to help out :)

First Arai Sensei gave a demonstration on how to make a simple cup, bowl and plate on the wheel. He made it look so easy! He was literally finished in 2 mins tops.

Since there are only 6 wheels not everyone could make something at once, so each person got a piece of clay, which they split in two. (One for the wheel, one for hand building something) Actually they clay split in half was just enough to make a medium sized tea cup on the wheel, I mean JUST enough. I wasn't really used to using such a small amount of clay on the wheel, especially one with lots of sand in it. (Everyone used shiro shigaraki aka white shigaraki) So my skin got pretty beat up on the wheel. The small amount of sandy clay with stainless steel wasn't a good combo, especially since I was trying to teach 3-4 people at once.

But everyone (including myself) really enjoyed it! I had a great time getting to know my teachers better and actually teach them something :) (They're always teaching me hehe)

The best part was teaching the kids. They had a good time and were actually better than the adults! The only difficult part was teaching them in Japanese! My brain was pretty tired afterwards. But each one will take home a nice handmade cup and plate :)

Here is one of the younger kids. He really wanted me to take his picture with his pieces. He was really wonderful on the wheel, it was his first time but he was a natural! I told him he should think about studying pottery in the future hehe.

Overall it was a great experience. I had the chance to see what it would be like teaching pottery and I must admit I would not mind doing this as a job! It's very tiring but very fun and rewarding :) Sadly the teachers only do this once a year >< But I'm trying to convince my other 2 schools to do it as well ;)

Until next time, with love from Sara Yama!

Tons O Cups and Such

2010-10-22T09:30:00.008+09:00

Here it is, the new lid, freshly made last night! Since my last lid ended up being a dud, I had a chance to make something even better. This time instead of making the lid flat, I curved it slightly to flow better with the teapot. It's hard to see in this picture but there is a slight curve. I also aligned the inside rim better as well. Before, it was too small and clanked around, so I'm hoping this time it'll be a better fit. The only thing is, the teapot body is slightly dry already, so it's a little difficult to accurately make a lid from fresh clay for something that may have shrunk slightly while drying....fingers crossed they fit!! Until I finish this lid, the teapot remains as is...

Here is the lid before I took it off the wheel. Like I said before, you make the lid upside down.

So while you make it on the wheel, you have to envision it like this. I had this in front of me while I was forming the lid on the wheel, just to remind me of what I was doing. (This is the dud lid)

Also, I finished putting the broken glass onto the last square plate. It's hard to see in this picture but it's green glass. I was going for a flowing leaf design.

Now that all three plates are ready, they'll go into OF firing next week. Can't wait to see how they turn out!

Anyways

After making the lid and putting glass on the plate I had 2 hours of time to kill, so I made cups! (perfect time killer haha)

In March many of my fav teachers from work will be transferred, and it is custom in Japan to give a gift to the departing transferees. So I thought I'd start early and make everyone a coffee cup, since teachers drink tons o coffee everyday.

I went with a new shape today, long and lean with a wider mouth. Each teacher likes a different sized cup, so I just eyeballed it and voila, three cups.

I plan to put handles on them after I've shaved the bottoms. I tend to always make the mistake of not making them big enough (since they do shrink 30%) So I consciously tried to make them larger this time around so I wouldn't end up with espresso grade sizes.

I had another 45 mins so after finishing the top three I made some more. This time I made one giant one that can be used as a pitcher. Maybe for sake, mixed drinks, tea, coffee, juice, whatever. It'll be great for summer :) and then two regular sized cups. Same design as above, slim bottom, wide top.

Here are all six pieces together. (I used bizen clay)

More to come soon!

Break from the TP

2010-10-19T22:07:00.009+09:00

I decided to take a break from the TP aka teapot tonight, refresh my mind and work on something else. I had a lot of pieces piling up that were ready for blazing so I did that for the whole evening. Total of 5 coffee/tea cups, 2 small bowls, 3 large square plates and one round small plate. Which isn't all that much in a three hour period but I did almost every piece in a different glaze so cleaning and mixing each glaze took up most of the time.

Time for the run down...

I'll start with the cups. Far right (top picture) I did K glaze RF firing for two cups (dark gray, bizen clay) To the left is one cup that is half T and S (OF, bizen clay). The bowl next to that is S and the last bowl (far left) is R. (Bowls will all be RF firing, both are white stone shigaraki clay )

On the last two cups I made a design under the glaze. A metallic like red with glaze I, which I don't have a color sample for but it's a bluish white color. Their is a tiny cup between them and that is glaze I (RF) but mind you it's with white shigaraki clay and this is bizen clay so it'll turn out slightly different.

Here's the cups after they were dipped in glaze I. I haven't used I glaze yet so I hope these turn out well :)

Last were my plates, which had to be glazed in a special way: air gun. These were the plates that I carved designs onto. (Bubbles, leaves and a flower) Since I wanted to put melted glass in the grooves I couldn't just dip the plates like everything else today, they had to be sprayed to get a very thin glaze so the craved out areas won't fill up with too much glaze during firing.

Obviously using an air gun is messy business so I had to take it outside. It's pitch black in the middle of a dark park in the mountains so I lugged a big light outside and set up camp. Few stools, some buckets with water, sponge and ladle. Oh and of course air gun.

After a few sprays each plate was finished.

Starting from the front: Bubble plate, bizen clay with U glaze.
Middle leaf plate, bizen clay U glaze. Top plate, flower plate white stone shigaraki with U and J glaze (green color)

After cleaning up it was time to put the glaze inside the grooves on each plate. Since the grooves were so small I had to smash glass pieces almost to dust and put the pieces in with a tweezers. (Yes, another tedious job haha) If I put too much glass in one spot it will overflow and turn out ugly so putting the right amount of glass is important.

Here is a close up, this is the flower plate with brown glass shards. When the glass melts it should spread out and fill in the grooves. But this is all an experiment so I'm not entirely sure how they'll turn out. Fingers crossed it's well! If not I'll have some plates to use with my demented tea cups :D

Here is the bubble plate. Dark blue glass shards. I didn't have time for the leaf plate. (that'll be this Thurs)

More to come soon!!

More Teapot

2010-10-16T09:04:00.002+09:00

The teapot was ready and waiting for me at Sara Yama Studio. I knew I would spend most of my three hours in headache inducing work so I had my i-pod ready at hand.

It was time to attach the spout to the teapot body, the most time consuming and "technical" part of the whole process. Since this was only my second time doing this type of work Arai Sensei guided me through the whole process which I will explain in detail below. (Pictures included! yay!)

1. Aligning the teapot body and spout is very important, if the degree the spout is attached to the body doesn't coincide with the top opening the water could dribble out. Here Arai Sensei is showing me how to eye up the correct positioning. It isn't too technical, more eyeballing it. Looking at the teapot at eye level Arai Sensei placed the spout at the correct angle. While keeping it at that same spot he then looked at the spout from above to make sure it was straight. My spout was slightly shifted to the left so he shifted it slightly to the left to adjust my mistake. He then took a marker and roughly outlined the silhouette onto the spout and drew a line on the top of the spout running to the teapot body. He did this so we could easily see where we aligned it later on. This process is one of the most important since you decide how you want the spout to look on your teapot. Best to make sure you like the placement before you move on!

2. Time to start carving the spout! Starting with the base Arai Sensei started the hole for me. We used a carving tool which has a similar blade as a box cutter, but double edged and with a wooden handle.

3. Here you can see the lines he drew from step one. The base has been carved out so it is time to carve away below the curved line.

4. Slowly but surely more and more and the spout is disappearing. Keep carving!

5. The whole point of carving the spout in this manner is to coincide the body's curve with the spout to ensure a tight fit when they are finally attached to each other. Here you can see I still have a long way to go before they fit correctly.

6. Keep carving...As you can see, the closer I get to the line the thinner the clay wall is, so I had to be careful to put push too hard and break then entire spout.

7. Just about there... It is important to carve away inside the spout as well. It will insure a good tight fit and make the spout lighter, which is also a plus. No one wants a super heavy teapot!

8. Have to make sure the sides are even as well. Mind you, while I was doing this I kept checking how the spout fit at the same spot the line was made on the teapot body. The last carving is always the most difficult, very tedious. If you scrape away too much on one side you have to adjust the whole thing again, which means the spout gets shorter and shorter. Best to carve it slowly and carefully.

9. IMPORTANT STEP After about an hour of carving the spout (Yes, an hour!) It was time to draw the hole onto the teapot body. While aligning the spout with the line drawn from step one, and making sure the position of the spout looks even on all sides, it was time to outline the spout onto the teapot body. A marker works just fine, and not to worry about the lines, they'll burn off during bisque firing. After the outline is drawn another line about 1 cm smaller parallel is drawn inside. The inside of this oval is what is to be carved out. The reason is the spout thickness has to be taken into account, if I carved all the way to the spout outline the spout wouldn't fit onto the body, the hole would be too big. 1 cm leeway can be too much at certain spots so I carefully carved slightly more off while making sure the spout still fit correctly.

10. Once the perfect fit is found, it's time to attach them to together. I needed to score each piece to ensure a good bond. You can see the scratches in the photo.

11. A ready made clay paste is the best sealant for green ware. Get the brush nice and full of the clay paste and paint around the spout edge.

12. Softly attached them together, aligning the line from step one.

13. Check from above, below, side etc to make sure it looks good. Then push the spout and body tightly using two hands to ensure they are fully sealed together.

14. I like to paint the sealed area on the outside with the clay paste and then smooth the rough edges out. The moisture from the paste is the perfect consistency to get a great finish.

15. After the outside is smoothed out, it's time to smooth the inside of the teapot. This can be difficult, esp. if the top hole is too small to allow your hand or fingers inside. Mine was barely big enough so I could smooth the edges out very well. I also painted inside with the clay paste and added a little more wet clay to get a nice smooth inside spout. You'll be thankful later for doing this since cleaning old tea leaves or stains out later could prove to be difficult.

16. Next it was time to move on to the lid. As you can see above, the lid was too wide for the teapot so I decided it needed to be trimmed down.

17. Looking at it from above I drew a dot to show how far in I wanted it taken in. Time to move to the potter's wheel.

18. Since the lid was carved the previous time, it was too thin and delicate to carve normally. So Arai Sensei showed me how to get around this problem. Make a ring of clay in the middle to fit with the groove on the underside of the lid. After the ring is centered on the wheel the lid can easily be placed on top.

19. After centering the lid, I lightly pushed down on it to hopefully get it to stay in the same spot. While turning the wheel, I took the marker and drew a circle coinciding with the spot I drew from step 17. I want to carve up to this line. After carving up to the line I placed it on the teapot and decided to needed to take more off, it was still too straight. Carving with the ring of clay was extremely difficult. There is no clay around the edge so when I push on one side it moves the entire lid making it off balance. I had to very very gently carve away at it, and it did move at least 10 times before I finished. When it moved I had to stop, realign it and start again.

20. Last a small steam hole is made on the top. Looks good right? Nice fitting lid :)

21. WRONG! I made the mistake of not checking the SIDE of the lid while carving...I ended up carving too much on the side leaving a slight gap...darn! (You can slightly see it in this picture) Bad news is I have to make a new lid if I want it to fit correctly. Good news: I wanted a more round lid so making a new one is probably a better idea anyways.

Next time I will carve the spout and add rings for a handle to be attached after glazing. I'm up to 7 hours of time on the teapot, and it's not even close to being finished.

On a side note I have finished the small globe lantern. I punched holes in an interesting design and left a larger hole for a lightbulb cord. It's currently drying and will soon be bisque fired :) I'm excited to see if I can really make a lamp out of this :)

Until next time!

Tea pot Contd.

2010-10-15T08:47:00.001+09:00

The teapot is coming along quite nicely. Last Tuesday I spent most of my three hour time slot shaving the teapot and lid. I forgot just how much time a teapot takes to make! So far I've raked up 5 hours.

Here are all the pieces I worked on. Far left is the teapot body and lid. The lid is just about finished, but as you can see it's still sticking out pretty far so I need to trim it down to size next time I'm in the studio. Middle long piece is the spout, which I didn't have time to work on, thus it looks the same as before. Lastly is the lanturn which is officially shaved and ready for carving.

Since the teapot body is super round I had to use a vase shaped holder to place it in while shaving it on the wheel. The roundness of the body made it impossible to shave it without the device since it will just roll around and be unstable. Using the vase makes it a lot easier BUT is extremely time consuming. Below is a picture of the vase type thing. (Sorry I don't know the technical name!)

First you have to soak the vase (its made of clay) to get it wet, then you have to center it on the wheel, after which you base it with a coil of clay. Then the teapot is placed on the top which also has to be centered and leveled horizontally and vertically. (My teacher had to help me with this, I can't do it yet) After all this you need one more long coil to wrap around the teapot body to make sure it won't shift while shaving. The whole setup process takes about 10-15mins, which is a lot compared to the usual 3-4 min it takes for pieces that don't need the clay vase as a stabilizer. After all this shave away!

This is the shelf where all the different shaped stabilizing pots are kept. As you can see there are many different shapes and sizes. The wide ones are for round pieces like my teapot body while the long and skinny ones are for narrow pieces like a vase. Arai Sensei hand made all of these many years back, and they're still in good condition today.

For now the teapot pieces will go into a styrofoam box to stay moist. Until next time!

Studio Shots

lanturns someone made, they remind me of x-mas trees :)

My teacher with an ornamental owl someone made, it looks kinda like him, esp. since they both have cute mustaches! hehe

New RF Pieces

2010-10-14T10:13:00.002+09:00

Since the noborigama took up a lot of everyone's time there were a lot of pieces to be fired at the beginning of October. I had quite a few pieces that either couldn't be put into the noborigama or didn't dry in time to be put in. All of these pieces were RF fired.
登り窯の準備は忙しかったから他の作品を焼く時間がなかった。今回は登り窯に間に合わなかった普通の電気窯に焼く作品が沢山あった。今回の日記の作品は全部RF焼き方。

First are two yunomi, both made from white shigaraki stone clay. The cup on the left has R a.k.a. kohagi glaze and the cup on the right has K a.k.a. kinyou. I love the purple from kohagi since it is so unique and bright. I also like the kinyou cup because you can see the lines from the potters wheel when the cup was being made. I somewhat wish I had put handles on these cups ><　最初は二つの白御影湯のみ。左側の湯のみはこうはぎ釉薬、右はきんよう。こうはぎのいろは珍しくて、明るいからすき、一方できんようはちょっと落ち着いてるけどろくろの線が見えるから面白い。取っ手つければよかったけど。。。
Next are two more teacups but with handles. These are made from bizen clay with L a.k.a. shinsha glaze. These two are extremely light and thin, yay! BUT since I made them so thin they warped!...booo... My teacher kept telling me to keep some thickness but I didn't listen so now I have two demented teacups to use at home. To top it off, the cup on the right's handle also drooped down during firing...ooops　次は備前のティーカップです。両方はめちゃ薄いけど焼いたときにゆがんだ！せんせいが薄すぎないようにしてと言いましたけれども私はアドバイス聞かなかった。。。結果は二つゆがんだティーカップは家に使うものになった。。。ウープス

Next, three more pieces made from bizen clay with U a.k.a. kiseto glaze base and a tetsuaka like accent color. (the accent color is very thick and is most like tetsuaka a.k.a. E glaze) These turned out very well! Very happy with the color. The two coffee cups have designs I painted on them while the small bowl has sporadic brush marks. The thickness of all the pieces is also great, not too thin and not too heavy either. Very happy :)
この三つは備前でベースの釉薬はきせとでアクセントはてつあかみたいの色です。このさくひんはよく出来たと思う。二つのコーヒーコップは筆で描いたデザイン、椀は習字のようのデザイン。作品の薄さや重さはちょうどういいです！めちゃ嬉しい！

Last but not least are three small bowls made from akashigaraki 104 with C a.k.a. tenmoku glaze and B a.k.a. kirabo accents. Great thickness to them and easy to hold.
最後、私の大好きな色コンボです。赤信楽でてんもくベースときらぼアクセント釉薬。薄さ良くて持ちやすい作品です。

I love the sheen from the tenmoku glaze! So happy I found this color combo. I would have put these in the noborigama BUT since akashigaraki clay has a lot of iron in it the risk of the pieces breaking is high.
てんもくの光沢大好き。この色コンボ見つけてよかったな。この作品は登り窯に入れるつもりだったけど、赤信楽は鉄製が多いから窯の中に壊れる可能性が高い。

Since I'm finally back to my normal schedule I plan on making many new pieces this fall. (Also the studio temp is back to tolerable levels hehe, no more sauna) Much more to come soon!

やっと普通どおりの生活戻ってきたから沢山新しいものを作るつもり　：）　教室の温度も涼しくなったし　また書きます！

Nobori Pieces Sept. 2010

2010-10-13T10:16:00.000+09:00

It was another great Noborigama at Sara Yama Studios this past September. I would've liked to have put more pieces in this time around but didn't have the time to prepare them. Here are the few (small) pieces that went in.

First we have three mixed clay pieces (black shigaraki clay with stones, red shigaraki with stones, red shigaraki 104 and white shigaraki with stones) I used glaze A (which is not in the color samples I made) and F (clear) glaze. A glaze is a simple and striking blue color, it comes across almost the same no matter what clay is used, so I didn't waste my time making samples for it.

Two small bowls and one sake cup or small vase. The blue turned out quite well, a little more subdued than with an electric firing. I splashed the blue as an accent color and I like the far left bowl the best. (maybe the design looks like a lightning bolt?)

Out of the same clay mix I also had two mess up pieces that I turned into flower pots, same glazes as above. Both turned out quite well.

Here is one of the pots with a plant in it :) It's current on my back porch. I still have to find a good small plant for the other pot, probably an indoor plant, something for my desk at work.

Last but not least is a bowl my mom made when she came to visit me in August. It is Bizen clay with A glaze rolled across it. Since it was put in the noborigama it looks better to leave the clay bare in some spots to let the natural sheen come out. As you can see here, some great gold specs came out. Like I've said before, each noborigama is unique so no two pieces will ever come out alike. My dad said the design looks like a wolf :)
*Bizen clay is great for noborigama's, it always gives great color.

The next noborigama is Dec 18th! I'll put many pieces in that batch :) Can't wait!