Making pottery

Two classes into my beginning ceramics class, and I am learning many many things.  First and foremost is that clay is incredibly fun to work with, though getting it to do exactly what you want it to do is perhaps the biggest challenge.  So far my class has covered  slab, pinch, and coil pottery, while our first weeks worth of work has just gotten bisque fired ( have not seen how my pieces fared yet).  I look forward to learning about glazing which I understand will be covered this upcoming week.

The biggest surprise for me was how much I would enjoy coil pottery, and I have my fingers crossed that a yunomi/ wan I made will turn out in the end, as I love the shape I made with it, and it is something that could not be made by being thrown, at least not easily.  Its a somewhat standard wan shape, but its built up on a triangle, and the piece though it bows out and is bowl like maintains the hint of a triangle shape throughout the entire piece.  I also spent a decent bit of time carving the foot to make it actually look like a foot for a cup.

At the same time I am a little bit scared as the substitute instructor the other day gave us what was a cross between a warning and a reassuring comment, that honestly quite a few pieces just do not make it through the entire firing process, even for very experienced potters.  Granted while I am not sure that any piece I have made has been "great" I am worried that some of the pieces I put the most effort into, would suffer from  "overworking" and as such end up having some sort of structural failure during the process.

Taking the Next Step

Tonight I took the next step in my ceramics education, I enrolled in a beginning ceramics class at the Kalamazoo Institute of the Arts.  Honestly I am a little scared, for a multitude of reasons, most of which I will try and explain in this post.

I am not an artist ( at least not in the typical sense).  The last time I took an art course I was in middle school.  While I do not think I will suddenly be a great creator of ceramics, I hope I have at least have some skill  gained from appreciating the handy work of some incredible artists.  I heard it was said that with relatively little practice a major official in Japan was creating chawan  with skill shown by those that have practiced for much longer due to the fact that he had been such a lover o f tea and teaware for so long.  Honestly the closest I get to being an artist is when I masterfully weave together logical arguments to create a logically sound proof of a mathematical statement.

Besides understanding what I like from a few different glazes and in terms of clay's, I honestly have no clue how to create those effects in the kiln, or in the selection/ mixing process.  While I certainly hope some of these things will be covered in a Beginning ceramics course, I can definitely say I am very particular about my teaware, and I am worried that while it may be fun, it will be an exercise in futility in which I create a bunch of pieces I never want to use.


Most of all and I feel somewhat silly in saying this, but I am quite worried that I honestly will not enjoy it at all.  Living out in detail the hypocritical critic.  Where I write a blog about appreciating ceramics, and enjoying ceramics, critiquing artists work, but in the end not even being willing to ever put my own work on the line. I would feel like a journal editor reviewing submitted papers, in an area I have never worked in.  I could try and judge if it meets its end goals, but I would be completely unable to appreciate the beauty in the approach, or the ingenuity in getting the result.

Gyokko Yohen Kyusu

I had not expected this day to happen for quite some time, if ever.  But it happened when I went on a teaware buying binge fueled by a tax rebate, saw this little guy and said why not.  But yes I actually own a Kyusu smaller than some of my Yixing teapots.  This little guy in theory measures in at 140 ml but I would like to double check that ( keep on forgetting) because it honestly seems so small.

It is a great little Tokaname Kyusu made by the artist Gyokko, and fired such that it shows off its lovely Yohen effects.  The fire created such a wonderful appearance on this piece, with bands going from aging dusty chocolate, to almost black clay, to a nearly rusted piece of scrap metal, then the most interesting band is somehow so incredibly shiny it looks like it got painted with oil.




Although using this piece while definitely doable, feels precarious.   Its one of those things that I have large enough hands grabbing it from above, my fingers on all sides wrap around and touch the edge of the bottom of the kyusu.  So when using this I feel like a giant using a normal sized teapot.  In fact while with most kyusu's I like to have a decent part of palm touching the handle, it just does not work. When I pour with this kyusu it is thumb and middle finger on opposite sides of the handle, right where it is narrowest. and my index finger on the top of the button. This is the most comfortable with me, but the handle does not get within an inch of my palm.

But I am incredibly fond of this little guy.  In fact makes doing small sencha tasting incredibly easy, and in  a pinch could likely also be used for Gyokuro.