Some shots of clay works in progress

I promised some studio shots, and this post is hopefully the first of several that deliver.    The blobs above are how I first set up my clay to start my pinching and forming of the pieces.  I have been exploring several different shapes, I did not photo graph any pieces that are really close to being ready for the bisque fire.  But I did take some photos of the progress I made towards two pieces that day.

This is going to be a yunomi, and while it looks very blocky, I am a huge advocate of nice koudai on pieces even pinch work ones, so when the clay dries out slightly, I carve away at the bottom of the piece to get the desired foot and bottom shape I want.

The same idea holds true for the tea bowl/ chawan below.  The base is extra block like so I can really get in there and carve it down to how I want it to be.   I also included a side shot.

Shibuya Eiichi Yunomi Video

I shot another video showing off some more of my teaware so you can get a bit of how the piece looks like in sizing, and when it is moving about.  Shibuya Eiichi is a real up an coming Hagi Artist and is the grandson of Shibuya Deishi another Hagi potter whose work I really admire, and use on a regular basis.  

Its rather funny as for the longest time every single Shibuya Eiichi piece I saw had a white glaze on the piece. The Kohiku Yunomi is in the first run of pieces I have seen from Eiichi which was not glazed in white, though it looks like a rather classic Hagi glaze, though it does not seem to be crackling and staining like most Hagi glazes.

Working With Clay

There is something amazing about working with clay.  While I am far from proficient at throwing, I have in my ceramics class which is based on firing in an anagama kiln later this spring, been working on hand building pieces.  This is the second clay body I have worked with, and its already teaching me a lot.  I never realized that different clay bodies could act so incredibly different.

I hope I can snap some pictures of this, but for now I can not, but I am making several pinch work teabowls, and this new clay body specially formed for firing in the Anagama kiln when it gets exposed to air even for a somewhat short amount of time dries to the level where the exposed sections crack easily.  As such I have a teabowl that I am really hoping looks out, as it has an incredible tree bark crackling effect on its outside.

Yet there is something so peaceful about working with clay, that I am sure I do not need to tell any potters.  My teachers have often said let the clay do what it wants, and honestly while you are forming the clay, each piece is unique as each little bit of clay really wants to do something special that only that bit of clay wants to do.  So no matter what you are doing, its always turning into a hybrid of letting the clay do what it wants, while guiding it into the form you ultimately want.  The very best pieces have both come together in perfect harmony, and it really is magical.