TeaChat

HW welcome to the thread! I have just been out to the studio and have pulled Spooler from the kiln. He has yet to be glazed. Spooler tells me he is impressed with the casual way in which you hold the thread--says he's yet to do that.

My RTC stoneware and terracotta pieces are now biscuit. It will be a week yet before I send them on their glaze firing. Meanwhile I thought I would post a couple shots of my sake flasks and cups.

As my tokurri and cups took shape I learned a thing or two from a Japanese friend in the studio. One morning I was telling her I thought I would make a set of--perhaps of four cups.

Her eyes opened wide. She literally shrank away, saying, "noooo!" No? I asked. Seems four is the number representing death in Japan. OK then--not four.

LP, numbers are very full of meaning for Asian people. When you see Cory's Etsy site, you'll notice all the 8's in the pricing. Cory is Chinese and 8 is the number representing wealth.

So, 3 is a number often used by Asians. Making sets of 3, 6, 9 is in line with their mystical view. Never 4. Who knows what would have happened if you made 4 of those cups!

I think that sake set is going to turn out nicely.

Sake cups seem to be 5 usually.
Even numbers are bad luck perhaps?

The spoken word in Chinese for the number four sounds very similar to the spoken word for death, hence the tetraphobia in asian culture.

beecrofter wrote:The spoken word in Chinese for the number four sounds very similar to the spoken word for death, hence the tetraphobia in asian culture.

Death and four are homophones, the only difference is the tone.

I read somewhere that the Japanese only give odd numbered sets to friends who are married, that way the sets cannot be divided evenly.

four in the japanese language is 'shi'. 'shinjatta' = died.

for (no pun intended) the record, i'm 1/4 chinese, 1/2 japanese and 1/4 korean. hehe !

even in design, you rarely see four sided cups. need to drink on the 90-degree corners.

even when i design pieces, i touch 3 and 5 times, i never do four.

your cups look like ochoko, or small nihonshu cups.

the other cup to enjoy 'nihonshu' (double fermented rice wine) is a 'guinomi'. they range from 2-3 inches wide. you'll be amazed if you go to japan. teacups are $35-50 on average. guinomi average over $100 and up !

u can tell a lot about the potter if the potter enjoys nihonshu. my personal 'guinomi' is the size of a 'yunomi ' or teacup.

aloha ! keep up the wonderful work !

cheers
cory (BONJIRI)

Being a student of the tarot I find the subject of numbers as.. hmm..oracles quite fascinating. It is my belief that there is a 'truth of experience' to such things--though quite unprovable as objective fact.

Number 4 (using the western lens I know) has to do with stability and consistent administration. It is also considered male (very yang). I think the reference in USA English that so and so is a square demonstrates this.

Thank you all for bringing the Asian perspective to this thread. It has been--still is a delight. I go now to become more acquainted with ochoko, nihonshu, guinomi and yunomi.

did Cory say "guinomi"....? Happy 4th to the knitting owl from HW

HW!(and lovely Clare) Spooler, now biscuit, is looking for the fire works in Cory's thread--though he did need a little help from his friend. Oh yes and he is telling me he thinks you are looking so dapper for the fourth of July. Hope yours was a happy 4th to!

!!! HW thinks Spooler looks fab! He has gotten over his napoleon complex and cant wait to see more of Spooler. His brother should be landing soon from Hawaii to say Aloha, HW says Aloha too but with a bit of a Bronx accent now..more like "ehhh yo..Alohah!"

Who is this? Why Spooler after glaze firing--none of that fancy gas firing. He was just fired in the electric kiln to cone 7. Too big as teacup He was made to hold a ball of yarn.

Here we are the first terracotta teacups fresh from the quiet electric kiln. They are slab built and glazed with a tin white glaze, majolica style. This in combination with letting the terracotta carry the surface on her own. The cups weigh about 4 ounces each and hold--each--about 5 ounces.

HW (henry wilson)'s brother arrived! He needs a name.. does Spooler have any ideas?

Hmm...said I looks like HW's brother is the side kick.

"Ah yes" and very quickly it came from Spooler's beak

"How about Hobbes--a philosopher, a very good side kick and in all quite the complicated beast."