TeaChat

So as a few members on the forum know I have started taking a pottery class. I am having a great time playing with clay, our first pieces were fired today, and as the pieces were more spontaneously made the instructor thought they would be good to be spontaneously fired.

This first piece is a pinch bowl with a white Raku Glaze. Planning on using this as a waste bowl.


White pinch bowl (2) by Adam Yusko, on Flickr


White pinch bowl (1) by Adam Yusko, on Flickr


White pinch bowl (3) by Adam Yusko, on Flickr


This second piece is a copper glazed pinch work cup. Rather cool piece to look at, but definitely not food safe.


Copper pinch cup (2) by Adam Yusko, on Flickr


Copper pinch cup (1) by Adam Yusko, on Flickr


I also made an interesting slab, bowl/ dish. Blue raku glaze, hand dipped, but in the dip I couldn't get the the center of the bowl covered, and I thought it would be interesting to leave the center uncovered ( I mean raku is not food safe any way, so whats the harm in leaving part of it unglazed).


Black and Blue Raku by Adam Yusko, on Flickr


Black and Blue Raku (2) by Adam Yusko, on Flickr

Sweet! Your love of ceramics shows. Did you get to participate in the firing of them? Raku is so unique in that you get to see the results so immediately. Nice work!

If you can get your hands on some cone 10 clay, make a piece, get it bisqued, and send it to me, I'll slap some shino on it and put it in my next wood-firing

GREENWOODSTUDIO wrote:Sweet! Your love of ceramics shows. Did you get to participate in the firing of them? Raku is so unique in that you get to see the results so immediately. Nice work!

If you can get your hands on some cone 10 clay, make a piece, get it bisqued, and send it to me, I'll slap some shino on it and put it in my next wood-firing

That could be cool, my school doesn't really offer wood firing ( unless you take the anagama class). But most of the remaining pieces I get fired this summer I plan to go through the cone 10 process. (In fact even the clay used for this raku is the Stoneware clay the school uses).

Sorry if I'm being dense now, but you say raku's not food safe, yet chawan are raku-glazed? Is some other process involved in that case, or doesn't it matter since the tea is in the bowl for a short time only? =)

Maybe I'm misunderstanding food-safe(=non-toxic)?

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=9864

That older thread outlines all the details. quite well. Basically all raku is not food safe for many reasons, (very low fired, often contains lead in the glaze, etc...). But its one of those things where the amount of lead you could pick up is so incredibly low that if it's used rarely it is likely okay. Especially based on the chemistry of tea vs the chemistry of the glaze.

Great, thank you!

Good work! Warning- you may be on a path to obsession.

I get students that stop and talk to me at shows that are almost embarrassed or apologetic that "all they do" is hand building. I have to stop them and tell them that not only am I turning to it more and more, but that some of the most respected ceramists in the world handbuild exclusively.

Enjoy the journey

Welcome to the world of clay, Adam. As Paul said..... "Beware the Dark Side". Intro classes are the "gateway drug".

Nice first pieces.

Take up that generous offer of the woodfire kiln space... that is not something that comes along easily.

best,

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

For the sake of clarity here on TeaChat... can we maybe try to refer to the general category of "raku" wares with the qualifiers of either "American raku" or "Japanese Raku"? Lumping the two together is sort of like saying "wine" when talking about french beverages made from grapes.

The nature of the production processes of the two categories are VERY different in some crucial ways. Those differences can have an impact on the potential appropriate usage of the pieces or any potentially "toxic" nature that might crop up. It also has an impact on the generally typical aesthetic approaches of the two different categories.

For example, typical black Japanese Raku ware is fired much hotter than typical red Japanese Raku and also hotter than any typical American style raku pieces. Japanese Raku does not have the post-glaze firing reduction process that Ameican raku does.

Also Japanese Raku wares were born out of the developing "wabi-sabi" aesthetic reaction to the bold and ostentatious works being used by Daimyo for Chanoyu at the time. American raku was born more out of the desire for flashy and new approaches to making ceramics in the beginnings of the American youth culture movement in the 60's in the Asian influenced subdued-color stoneware environment.

best,

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

AdamMY wrote: I am having a great time playing with clay

nice work!

First you play with clay ... ... next comes playing with realllly intense fire ... it always starts this way. Playing with clay is the gateway.

But cool starter pieces, Adam. I thought you soaked them in Keemun overnight to achieve that level of crackling!

Pinchwork painted chawan (2) by Adam Yusko, on Flickr


Pinchwork painted chawan (1) by Adam Yusko, on Flickr



Pinchwork painted chawan (4) by Adam Yusko, on Flickr


Pinchwork painted chawan (3) by Adam Yusko, on Flickr

And In Action:



Painted Chawan Matcha by Adam Yusko, on Flickr

Cool!

Some very nice pattern variation going on in the glaze.

Pinchwork painted chawan (2) by Adam Yusko, on Flickr

I guess I should mention the glazing a bit. Let me just say Forrest Gump said it best:
"glazing is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get"

In fact I keep on rechecking the bottom of this piece, and yes those are my initials there, and it looks an awful lot like the bowl I made. But the glaze pattern has next to nothing in common with what I pictured in my head. The only part that's in common is the main glaze is a very thick coat of white.

Then on top of that I thought I would get fancy by doing quick and simple brush strokes with Tenmoku, and Oribe. This piece is a very good first lesson in "glazing is not like painting" you are coating the piece is something that seems sort of like paint, but when fired it melts and turns into a glass. Not to mention there are reason why pieces are usually dipped and the glaze is not brushed on. its hard to transfer a thick amount of the glaze onto the piece painting like one would with a brush.

So Tenmoku ( black) and Oribe ( green), when looking at the test tiles, I had imagined stunning black and green brush strokes standing out against a white background. Instead the very thin layers, ( and with Oribe, I imagine some sort of interplay between the glazes), I got a light brown from the Tenmoku, and a stunning effect from the Oribe, a light purple that is almost oil spot, but also adds a decent bit of texture to the piece there.

Nice one Adam. Yummy looking matcha too

This piece is a very good first lesson in "glazing is not like painting" you are coating the piece is something that seems sort of like paint, but when fired it melts and turns into a glass.

There's a dreaded 4-letter word in pottery. TEST