Under Fired

Just before, actually the day before the gallery opening, I got a substantial quantity of stuff from the kiln. Unfortunately about half of this stuff was under fired. It was like a sucker punch to my stomach, but I dealt with it ,I had to. In addition to this I extensively used a newly made batch of a glaze called shiro matto that I've often used in the past. I had always used it in reduction, this time I used an oxidation firing to try to speed things up but what I got was instead was totally unrecognizable, and in some cases under fired! ugh! Sho ga nai as they say over here... Again, nothing I could do about it, had to take it in stride, but I can say it had a demoralizing affect on my emotions during the gallery. I know that this is only the result of my expectations. Most of this work sold actually. Outside of my own thought processes there were no expectations for color texture, or design, perhaps other than a reasonable level of expectation concerning quality. It makes me wonder, how do you balance your own desires and artistic vision with that of the public to which you are totally unknown, and who have no expectations of you? In other words... How do you know what is crap?

The Moment Has Arrived

Here are some pictures from the gallery, It's actually over now, and though it was unbelievably stressful in ways that I was unprepared for it was still a success, but I can say I am really glad it's over.

The show was called san-nin or the "the 3 amigos" the first picture is of an amigo you might recognize, standing in front of his work, next is a better picture of said work, followed by pictures of the tables containing the work of the other two amigos. First, Kudo san the real star of the show, and an outstanding potter. And secondly, Takano san my Sensei, and a real rock, although our communication is limited, she really helped me to get through my anxiety during the show.

Some more stuff...

Here is a pitcher, it looks a little small in the picture, but its like a normal pitcher in size, that's a little vague, but anyways it's not small. Strange that it came out grey in color, last time I used this glaze it came out bluish. The tea pot is just black, I painted a chrysanthemum on the side with iron oxide, (bengara) but it didn't show up. I've had that problem with this black matte (shiro-matto) glaze, sometimes it shows other times it doesn't. I think the first time I used this combo it showed a lot so much so that it caused the glaze (yuyaku) which is pretty inert to run, so I modified the amount of bengara down; but it's not an exact science, it's mostly a guesstimation done with a paint brush; anyways I can't seem to find a happy medium, and the last couple of times it hasn't shown up or there's just a faint ghost of the image which is barely perceptible. ...I got to change the resolution on my cell phone camera. Sorry such low resolution.

One More Month

I'm a little concerned, I've got about 60 pieces right now, and I'm not sure I can make up the rest to get to 100. Ideally I'd like to make about 120 because I know things will not come out good, or they'll break etc, maybe 100 is possible, but 120 is out of the picture. There's one more reduction firing between now and the show, and maybe three more oxidation firings, but I've never really done oxidation, I'm not a fan of it, and I'm totally unfamiliar with what it'll do with the glazes, but I'm not optimistic.
To be honest I really have no idea of what to make. Like of that 100 how much of each thing should I be making? For example how many mugs is good? how many cups? how many etc... I really have no idea. This is totally uncharted territory for me, it's things I've never though about before. I really need some help, like right now I have 10 coffee mugs, should I make 10 more? Will they sell? if not I'll be stuck with a bunch of mugs, maybe that's a good thing because I could easily make them into x-mass gifts. Not as easy to do with tea pots, its hard to give away something that takes so much time and effort to make.

In The Studio Today

Its getting a little chilly here, I like it, but I really miss the hot Florida sun right about now too... But anyways, some new stuff from the studio. Today I was far from productive, I've said it earlier, but this is a real stretch for me, I've never had to make more of the same thing ever before, I usually never do, just because I don't have to, and as a result I've never practiced, as a result, it's challenging for me. Also, I like to keep experimenting. So for me making sets of bowls is not exactly the funnest thing to do, but it's a necessary skill, and one I've been struggling through and developing lately. Sorry no pictures of said sets of bowls as of yet. Maybe when the come out of the kiln. Just a new mini tea pot and a mini vase. Made from Kyo-Shiro.

Working in the shop

Here's some pictures of stuff that needs to be bisque fired. What looks like a small tea pot and a very large tea pot. I'm saying its a pitcher, not a tea pot.

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.

A Tea Pot, a pair of small Domburi, and a square Tea Pot

These are things that I've made over the last year or so, I guess in a way they're test pieces for what I'm doing now. What do ya think?

Hello. World.

Well this is it, the first post. So, Let me sum up what this blog is supposed to be about. It's mostly going to be a pottery blog. I'm an amateur, or maybe, affectionado is a better term, but anyways, I'm going to be doing my first gallery in December (wow) and at the suggestion of my older sis, I'm going to document what I'm doing. Did I mention that I live in Japan? That has a lot to do with why I'm doing this. I took up pottery about 6 years ago, give or take, and I really fell in love, like it was love at first touch. I caught the "bug" as some put it. (My Sensei recently called me an otaku!) But I've only ever done it as a hobby, and really only regularly for a while, like in other words, I haven't been doing this nonstop for 6 years. I say that because I just want to clarify my amateur-ness. Really I feel like a beginner. But anyways, I'm doing my first gallery in December, that's in two months!! I need 100 pieces for the show. and right now I'm at about 30-something. So, I got to really bust my hump, no pun intended. This experience is already really expanding my abilities, and the way I think about pottery. For example, its not enough to simply have 100 pieces, It's important for me that they somehow fit together to form a body of work, they have to have some continuity. Anyways, while that's what I want, I'm struggling just to make sets of bowls that are all the same size... I want to say a lot more, and I'm sure I will as the posts start rolling in.