Today

Today I made about 17 pieces but kept only 13. I was working on a set of small 400g bowls and I must have made 10 to get 5 that are about identical. I also made a semi-tall narrow neck vase 1.5k I also kept two of the small bowls that didn't make the cut. I don't know if I can use them in the show because they'll be sticking out like oddballs, but they'll be good for experimenting with glaze. I also made 2 beer cups. It's a design that we don't have in the US, but here in Japan people like to drink beer from ceramic cups, usually they aren't glazed on the inside. Personally I think beer tastes better in one of these, kind of like the way beer tastes better in bottle than in a can, and so does a British friend of mine who certainly doesn't feel compelled to say so. I'll take a picture later on so you guys in the states can see what I mean. I also made a really small tea pot, it might turn out to be too small after it shrinks, at which point I guess it'll become a decorative piece as opposed to functional ware. By the way, everything I've made and am trying to make for this show is functional ware. Lastly I made two matching tea cups for the small tea pot.

Today I tried what I think was a new clay body, our studio has a really large selection of clay bodies to choose from. I usually just use the same thing which is a 50/50 mix of Kyo-Aka and reclaim clay from the community slurry bucket. Kyo-Aka means red clay from Kyoto aka Kyoto red, its super smooth, like cream cheese, there's a word that describes it, but I forgot what it is! It's common among my friends to forget English or to use jumbled up English (as is apparent from reading this blog!!), but its weird to me for some reason I've forgotten several pottery related words... Anyways, Kyo-Aka and reclaim, I'm a po'boy, and frankly it's hard for me to accept spending 10 bucks for one kilo of clay! For you US guys, that's about a ball of clay the size of a grapefruit. The reclaim runs for 5 skins a kilo, so I guess it's a deal. Mixed together they make a pretty decent throwing body, but its far from consistent or ideal, and sad to say but Kyo-Aka does not like to stay stuck to its self, so I have to be extra careful when attaching handles, and things like that. I usually let everything slow dry for like a week or more before air drying to bone dry.

Anyways, I was making wine glasses two weeks ago, and for that I wanted white and clean clay to get it thin, I honestly don't remember which white body I used for those, but I was planning to make a set of them today so I bought 3k's of this white body called Ky0-Shiro, aka Kyoto white. I just want to say this is the mother bleeping (sorry I think I have kids who read this) bomb! Hot dang! I'm in love with it. It's awesome, it's so smooth, smooth like silk. I wish I could use this stuff exclusively. When you stretch it it doesn't crack like my mix does, it's like pulling taffy, one down side to it is it gets weak when thin (I like to get thin) and can't support much inconsistency in the the clay thickness, like a thick lip on a bowl for example. Never the less, it made me happy.