Seong-Il Chawan

I now have my very own piece of Korean Hagi, and I am loving it.  This cream white piece that is already starting to stain wonderfully.  It is also a classic rice bowl shape, very similar to the Ido style teabowls that are so renown.

My biggest pet peeve on this bowl, which granted I have not fully tested to see if it is actually more my new chasen rather than the bowl itself.  In all honesty all Chawans I have used previously have had a rather flat bottom, and this bowl shaped bottom is so rounded, I have been having an incredibly hard time whisky my matcha. Although I have only tried using my new 80 prong ( instead of 100 prong) chasen.

So more on this piece, feels great in hand, uses Buncheong Clay.  Amazingly enough this is one of the few glazed pieces I have seen that almost actively seems to pull water underneath the clay, and in fact just having water sitting in the bowl the cracks will darken.

Comparison of Shino Cups

This large cup is a Pink Shino by Chris Chaney a.k.a ChicagoPotter. It is certainly taking on a lot of wonderful character, the pink is subtle but I think I got one of the more subtle blends of the pink glaze he created for the Teachat Special Offer from which this cup came. The cup had a Sakura/ spring theme, but the sign of it on this cup is the "grass" you see showing through on the side of the cup.

The inside is a bit more pale also showing slight spots from the kiln. Though I am thinking I am starting to like Shino a bit, as it can stain rather like Hagi, and this one is showing the start of staining.

This cup is one of two I have from a Korean artist Hong Seong Il, which I find absolutely wonderful. They are tiny little cups probably only hold an ounce and a half possible two ounces, but they are wonderful, and the one I have been using quite often is the one that I find has such a great character. I do not know if it is considered a flaw, but the aspect of the piece is shown, there appear to be several holes/ pock marks in the glaze on one side of the inside of the cup. I personally like it as I by far prefer cups in which at some point I can see what the clay of the piece looks like when fired.

I mentioned this earlier, but I like how shino's also show crackling and staining, and perhaps I am a fan of thick and gloopy glazes, as is evident by quite a bit of my Hagi pieces. It may be a while before I write about more pieces as I am running out of items that I have yet to talk about. Although I have some hopefully wonderful works coming to me within the next several months.