Day Four - Pictures

Some pictures of today.

Day Four

Today was a pretty epic day. Lots of stuff happened at the studio and it was very exciting. As soon as I arrived Moto and Takao were ready to start a fire. They showed me that pots with this matt red color, are to be put in this fire we make at 1000 degrees (Celsius). Basically they sit in there for about 20 min and the charcoal leaves a design on the side. We did this for three hours. Seven different batches of pots. The process is tiring. Pots in, coals in, lets sit, pots out, dip them in water, lay them flat, repeat. The crazy thing is, that this process has no actual purpose. It is not a bisque or a glaze load, its just for decorative design. Even with 20min in the fire, some pots manage to not get the correct color. Out of 10 pots, this will happen to about 3 or 4 of them. So in they have to go again, until they have this dark black color on the side. Of course it was raining while we were doing this, but the fire was nice and warm. To keep the coals hot you have to keep a constant source of airflow. We used this ancient fan to keep the coals hot, and also something that looked like a leaf blower. Moto showed me how to take the pieces out of the fire, with these massive metal tongs (they get hot!!). When you have them in the tongs you have to dip them in cold water and they steam like crazy. We finished at 12:30 and I was starving. Another typical delicious Japanese lunch was served :) After lunch we went back into the studio and i did Rokuro, pottery wheel. Lets just say the way they do things here in Japan is so different from the GH process. Everyone was surprised that I put the wheel in forward position, apparently they usually go in reverse. They dont use bats, or sponges, or lots of water. They basically take a huge clump of clay, and create a kind of clay bottom on top of which they throw the actual pot. Oh, major difference number one: They sit cross legged, with the wheel in a hole. I had some major issues with my legs not folding so i ended up sticking my legs in with the wheel. Only issue was, that unlike gh, there are no plastic trays around the edges to hold the clay and water in. Thus, it got all over me. I made four pots on the wheel and then it was time for our break. Since I had some time to kill (I was not going to walk home covered in clay) i just messed around with some clay, making little things. Needless to say, today was hard. Im actually very tired right now and am happy i have the weekend off! Phew.

Day Three - Even More Pictures

The finished bunny isnt mine. I made one (not pictured) that looks like it.

Day Three - Pictures

Day Three

The process of ceramics is long and time consuming, yet at the same time slow. The thing is, you create something, let it dry, trim it, fire it, glaze it, fire it and youre done. But its not like you can fire twice in one day. So, today I messed with my creations from yesterday. Right now there are 3 bunnies, and 3 pots. The pots are more like cups and consisted of my main focus for the day. I trimmed them, added a handle to some and then put them ready to fire. After that, I was pretty much done, so my day at the studio ended at 3.
Takao helped me with the trimming today and then I watched him decorate some ornamental pieces. Basically, he had to delicately place thin gold leaf paper on an already glazed piece. The catch is, you cant touch the gold with your hands. You cant year gloves, its all done with specialized tweezers and paper. The gold is so thin, that is misplaced or put on incorrectly your work is ruined.
So I had a typical Japanese lunch with my ceramics family. It was delicious, though I still dont know what the green stuff I didnt like was. I also got to see the stock room, and some more of the house. Moto also told me that out of the hundreds of studios in Kyoto, only 7 of them work with Raku firing.

Took too many pictures today. Mostly of the place. Will post next.

Day Two - More Pictures

Needed more space :)

By the way, can you guess which cup I made?

Day Two

After a good nights sleep, I spent the day at the studio. I met Moto (The son of the master/owner). Moto is an interesting guy, he actually has a degree in nuclear engineering from the top university in Japan. Two years ago he decided to join the family business. Takao is Moto's cousin. Takao is crazy good at ceramics. It seems to me that he mainly focuses on design, drawing and creating images by hand that are just breath taking.

Moto started the day by using the traditional Raku clay (is very rough and sandy) to make little cups. But first we had to wedge. Oh boy, here they use a special type of wedging so your clay ends up looking like a chrysanthemum. Lets just say its hard to do. We ended up putting the rest of the clay trhough a processing machine and made about 7 cups total. I watched Takao and Moto's uncle make some flower pots and then headed out to lunch. After lunch we headed back and I met Moto's sister and her 9 month old baby boy, Yuki. Moto decided that I should try to make some clay figures, so using a dark black, softer clay I made bunnies (next year, is the year of the rabbit). Okay, they arent just silly bunny figurines, they're silly little bunny boxes. Believe it or not, this pretty much took until 2pm to do. When we got back from our half hour afternoon break I got to learn how to trim my little cups. It is not easy. The entire process of ceramics here is different. Basically you shave off and even out the clay but since the clay is rough huge chucks come off at once and keeping everything even, without using a wheel, is some serious work. Needless to say I finished ONE cup. I am proud of my little cup, but it no where looks nearly as good as Takao's. I have some serious business to attend to and some new skills I am going to need to learn.

Day One

Today is my first day in Japan, and after waking up at 4 am, due to jet lag, I began my day. During lunch my Dad and I met up with some people involved in my senior project. I owe pretty much all of this to Kenji, a restorer of painting who got me in touch with a ceramics master representative. All four of us had lunch and discussed schedules. We then headed of to Kyoto's Raku Gallery.

The museum was actually amazing. Raku is a sort of ceramic ware that was started by the potter Chojiro, around the 1570's. The new type of pottery had a style particular to that of Japan and was different from the style centering on Chinese style. In Japan, tea is part of the culture and the chanoyu (the japanese tea ceremony) is considerately influential. Raku ceramic ware has become specific in Japanese culture to tea bowls, and is not considered for everyday use. The way these tea bowls are made require skill and patience. This specific type of Raku ware does not use a potters wheel. Clay is kneaded by hand and delicately scraped off to decide its form. Each clay piece is then fired separately.

After getting some more information on the whole process the representative drove us to the place where I will be working for next few weeks. In the middle of the Gyon historic district lies a little, family run studio. The master works with his younger brother and his son, who fortunately speaks English and French.

So, the picture I have is of a handmade tea bowl that is Raku fired. Its traditional to the tea ceremony and was a gift for me. The bowl comes in a box and it is custom for each individually unique tea bowl to have a name. The picture of the box top contains the name. I start work bright and early 8 am tomorrow morning and continue until 5pm.