Today's MatchaWan :D (new name, but tea's the same)

[blairswhitaker]

alos not sure if it comes across but the glaze had a very pitted texture too it as well as being slick.

[debunix]

Lovely chawan with plum tree! The design works beautifully with the matcha.

And thanks for the sensory details of the raku piece. It's likely as close as I'll come to such a piece....

[Sasameyuki]

Beautiful. As always thanks for sharing with us these wonderful pictures and impressions.

[Seeker]

Fantastic Blair!
Thank you so much for your posts.
The rake is fabulous, the feather chashaku astounding, and I love your plum tree painting! Wow.
You are privy to some pretty wonderful experiences. Thank you again for sharing with us.
Now just need to mop up my drool.

[blairswhitaker]

more projects came in today,

here is a raku bowl I made earlier this year, it finally got fired



as always Kuro raku is about the hardest damn thing to get a representative image of,





matcha is from hamuro no mukashi from Yamamasa-Koyamaen

pool of green



reflecting pool





tomobako

[debunix]

[quote="blairswhitaker"]
reflecting pool


Gorgeous. It certainly shows the off the magic of your raku.

[JBaymore]

Blair,

The plum tree drawing there is wonderful.

But the kuroraku chawan is REALLY sweet.

You need to continue with claywork after you return to the States.

best,

..............john

[blairswhitaker]

Wow! thanks for the compliments, especially you John. I do work with clay in america sporadically but my main problem is I don't have anywhere reliable to fire. I typically do reductive carving type of stuff so the raku process felt really natural to me. (on a side that raku bowl is very light and functional, as I am sure John knows, The japanese view is that a lot of American work tends to lean to the HEAVY side of things, a few of my classmates made bowls with nice shapes but weighed more than a brick.)

[Tead Off]

Good stuff, Blair. The photos of the kuro piece are just fine!

[JBaymore]

Wow! thanks for the compliments, especially you John. I do work with clay in america sporadically but my main problem is I don't have anywhere reliable to fire. I typically do reductive carving type of stuff so the raku process felt really natural to me. (on a side that raku bowl is very light and functional, as I am sure John knows, The japanese view is that a lot of American work tends to lean to the HEAVY side of things, a few of my classmates made bowls with nice shapes but weighed more than a brick.)

どういたしまして. Praise given where deserved.

Pet peeve of mine. The 'heavy issue' (along with a number of others) is part of what I will be addressing at my coming lecture at the March convention of the National Council for Education for the Ceramic Arts.

"Raku first, Hagi second Karatsu third".

I use the typical raku reductive forming process for almost all of my handbuilt chawan, not just my aka raku ones. I teach that in workshops to students.; most western potters have never been taught reductive forming.

Unfortunately, I've never been able to duplicate that kurorakugusuri surface with western materials. Next time I am in Kyoto I am going to go to the Kamogawa and fill a suitcase with Kamogawa ishi.

Keep making pots.

best,

...................john

[Seeker]

Super cool dialogue you guys. Gosh it'd be fun to watch a chawan being reduction built - then I could understand what that means!

But it sounds fantastic.
another fun thing to do would be to try it (tho I am in no way a ceramicist).
best to you all.

[JBaymore]

Seeker,

Reductive forming in this case simply means carving is a significant part of the process. The Raku tradition comes from a combination of the sancai (three color lead glazed wares) tradition in China (from Chojiro's father) combined with the making of roof tiles and the roof tile ridge and eaves ornaments in both China and Japan. (BTW.... sancai in Chinese ceramics is called sansai in Japanese ceramics.)

The tile work is handbuilt and the sculprtural work on the figures and reliefs on the ridges and eaves is a combination of rough modeling and carving. So when Sen no Rikkyu commissioned the development of wares for Chado...... from this family.... the techniques they were very familiar with came into play. They were not originally "potters" in the sense we think of today; their core product was mainly roof tile.

So the traditional Raku forming technique is one of two processes that are both heavily reductive. From a thick disc of clay, pinch/form out a very thick hollow form that serves as a "blank". Then let it stiffen to a consistency that is appropriate for carving....... and carve away anything that "does not look and feel like a Chawan" . The other process is to form the blank totally solid... and then carve the Chawan (or incense burner, or ?) from it.

Western potters rarely ever get taught this process in typical ceramics classes (I teach it regularly in classes and workshops.) Carving is usually relegated to surface enrichment in Western ceramic process...... not the core forming technique.

best,

......................john

[Seeker]

Thank you John!
Very cool read, once again makes me interested in seeing the process someday.

[Pig Hog]

Got myself a Yamane Seigan chawan with seigan blue glaze. Will post pics when it arrives.

[Seeker]

We look forward to pics of your new chawan!