John Baymore ... Wood-fired Chadogu and Pottery

[debunix]

"new house" .... "chawan"........ clearly you have your priorities in the wrong order...."

Actually, it's all for the teawares. The house has wood floors, and shortly the tile kitchen counters will be changed out for formica, the better to preserve the teawares that presently must take their chances with tile floors and tile counters--tiles that have already claimed multiple victims.

[JBaymore]

"new house" .... "chawan"........ clearly you have your priorities in the wrong order...."

Actually, it's all for the teawares. The house has wood floors, and shortly the tile kitchen counters will be changed out for formica, the better to preserve the teawares that presently must take their chances with tile floors and tile counters--tiles that have already claimed multiple victims.

Ah... a whole HOUSE dedicated to teaware....... yes...... you DO understand.

Ah,.................. but............ you need some TATAMI. Now is the time to go to the dark side. A chashitsu.

best,

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

[debunix]

Now is the time to go to the dark side. A chashitsu.

One of the several decks might just find itself dedicated to tea....

[Peacock]

Stunning pieces...

[Drax]

"new house" .... "chawan"........ clearly you have your priorities in the wrong order...."

Actually, it's all for the teawares. The house has wood floors, and shortly the tile kitchen counters will be changed out for formica, the better to preserve the teawares that presently must take their chances with tile floors and tile counters--tiles that have already claimed multiple victims.

Ah... a whole HOUSE dedicated to teaware....... yes...... you DO understand.

Ah,.................. but............ you need some TATAMI. Now is the time to go to the dark side. A chashitsu.

Hmmm, I'm actually just starting the journey for a house... I certainly have "tea room" and "tea storage closet" on my items of interest, but I think I will expand that list.

Though, tatami seems like it would have interesting potential in many spaces... are there any good sources in the US, or would that have to be an import? (I think I know what the answer is, but you never know when you've got a traditional craftsman nearby...)

[JBaymore]

Drax,

A number of sources are in the USA. Here are a couple:

http://www.chopa.com/ShopSite/tradition ... _mats.html

http://www.orientalfurniture.com/tatami ... 4AodFGkA-Q

http://tatamiroom.com/cgi-local/catalog ... ATAMI_MATS

http://www.jlifeinternational.com/HomeDecor/tatami.html

Tatami can vary in quality. The best I've seen are imported from Japan and are made in the traditional way with compressed rice straw as the core of the mat. You find some that have a foam-board of some sort as the core instead of the rice straw. Some are actually impoprted from China.

They are a WONDERFUL surface. Once you really spend time on them you realize what stupendous flooring they are. And they SMELL great.

Hope you can find a place to set something up.

best,

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

[Abracadaver!]

I stopped by the Cavin-Morris show last Tuesday--great, great show. Nice to see a few familiar faces from TC and to get to see some works by some of my favorite porters in the flesh. Well worth seeing if you are in the area.

[debunix]

I did receive a price list from the Cavin-Morris gallery for the exhibition items, and there weren't many that looked remotely affordable.....although a certain beautiful celadon chawan was more affordable than many. It seems like at this level, the prices are more determined by the artist's reputation and what the market will bear, because these are really fantastic works by each artist.

Tatami mats are a *very* interesting idea, but at present, I'd expect that George would think that they are hay....

[Robert Fornell]

John,

Thanks for posting the link to the chawan show now at Cavin Morris. I think that it did turn out to be a fairly good show which, when looking back to the casual conversation that Rick Mahaffey and I had last November..."Hey maybe we should do a chawan show for NCECA", turned out to be much more that I/we bargained for. That said, I feel fortunate to know most of the artists on a personal level and am thankful for their gracious and generous sharing of their work and time which enabled us to pull it off. I'm happy to hear that folks here on TC are enjoying it as well.

Best,
Rob

[JBaymore]

Abracadaver,.... thanks for stopping by the show and the kind words.

Debunix,....... yeah, George would likely have a nice snack.

Rob,................ もんだいないです。I wish I had time to get down to NYC myself to see it first-hand. The catalog looks fantastic. Thanks to you and Rick and Randall for all the work that goes into something like this.

best,

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

[paul haigh]

Excellent work, as always, John. Best of luck, and post pics of the latest student chawan on Facebook if you get the chance.

[JBaymore]

Excellent work, as always, John. Best of luck, and post pics of the latest student chawan on Facebook if you get the chance.

Paul,

Thanks for the praise there. It is a great exhibition overall.

Yesterday afternoon was the main chawan workshop glazing session. They have a total of about 120 chawan to glaze. They made a good dent in them..... but still have til 8 PM Sunday nioght to have them glazed and on the "to be fired shelves".

I am looking forward to seeing the results too.... some of them REALLY caught on to the concepts and there are a few pieces there with some REAL potential. But as you well know "it ain't over until it's over", so hopefully the gamakamisama will smile upon their efforts.

We have a semi-formal usucha Chakai scheduled on Sunday afternoon August 12th when they each will get to USE their bowls by preparing tea and also drinking tea. They've had a basic but detailed Taemae written "script" with diagrams and a video to study for the past two weeks to help get ready for it. I just ordered some top quality Matcha from Uji, Japan for it (thank goodness for lab fees! ) and I'm getting wagashi shipped from Minamoto Kichoan in NYC.

I'll likely get some images up of the bowls and the Chakai on my Facebook "My Institute Classes" photo album.

best,

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

(PS: For those here "not in the loop"....... Paul is talking about the summer workshop I am teaching called "Making Handbuilt Chawan for Tea Ceremony".)

[JBaymore]

Today is the unloading of the student's chawan from the handbuilt chawan making workshop I've been running for the past four weeks, and after a short critique session... we will have a Chakai using the bowls that they have made.

Fresh matcha just arrived from Uji via Express Mail and wagashi from Minamoto Kitchoan via FedEx. Packing up furo and chagama and other supplies shortly and off to the college I go. Pondering which kakemono to choose on a rainy humid summer day..............

Fun. Some pictures later.

best,

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

[Chip]

... cool. Looking forward to seeing photos soon!

[JBaymore]

... cool. Looking forward to seeing photos soon!

And as promised, here is a link (below) to the photos from the student's Chakai.

LaurenHandsHoldingChawanAndMatcha-Baymore.jpg (28.54 KiB) Viewed 2207 times

2012NHIAChakai1-Baymore.jpg (23 KiB) Viewed 2198 times

2012NHIACHAKAI2-StudentTerry HeinzmanChawan-Baymore.jpg (17.04 KiB) Viewed 2198 times

For all of the photos of the event.... please go here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 2113043934

best,

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