Ode to the Kyusu

[Xell]

Gorgeous clay--love the contrast of the interior against the white glaze of the outside!

I can't say for certain now, need to ask for better translation. Seems this is the result of his firing, color is because of big difference in temperature of inside and outside of pot. Something like ~1300C outside pot and 1800 inside, but wonder if i got this right, feels way too big difference

One downside to this piece, it's rather expensive, well, as everything purely handmade in Japan. Would like a set of cups with it, but this will have to wait.

Here is a photo of who made this piece

[Stentor]

Nice pot Xell. Great texture on the outside.

[Alex]

Yeah very Nice Xell!

[Chip]

I like it!

[Tead Off]

Gorgeous clay--love the contrast of the interior against the white glaze of the outside!

I can't say for certain now, need to ask for better translation. Seems this is the result of his firing, color is because of big difference in temperature of inside and outside of pot. Something like ~1300C outside pot and 1800 inside, but wonder if i got this right, feels way too big difference

One downside to this piece, it's rather expensive, well, as everything purely handmade in Japan. Would like a set of cups with it, but this will have to wait.

Here is a photo of who made this piece

Nice pot. The interior looks unglazed so you get the color of the actual clay contrasting with the glazed exterior.

[Xell]

Nice pot. The interior looks unglazed so you get the color of the actual clay contrasting with the glazed exterior.

Clay is light shade of grey, what you can see on the edge of lid for example. Forgot to take a photo of bottom, which is unglazed for sure. Seems it's same clay as they use for porcelain in Arita. I visited display of works from some famous potter, considered living national treasure, he's 14 generation in that family. His house was quite close, so we could go, but only got 10min before closing. Everything was porcelain and we were allowed to handle some of works, when i got in my hands one of cups i was surprised by how light it was, from looks i thought it would be 3-4 times more heavy. But when one single tea cup cost over 30.000yen it better have something special about it On the other hand, his teapots didn't look useful at all, gorgeous and crazy expensive, seems not meant for use or not for japanese tea.

Same lightness i feel in this kyusu too, well, maybe i'm too exited about new "toy" and imagine things, but tea is more easy to brew in it, i'm getting consistent really good results.

[Tead Off]

The color of the clay will change after firing in many cases.

[Xell]

The color of the clay will change after firing in many cases.

Different color depends on where it is? It's light grey after firing.

[Tead Off]

The color of the clay will change after firing in many cases.

Different color depends on where it is? It's light grey after firing.

You mean placement in the kiln? On Seong il's porcelain clays, for example, I notice the light color often changing to brownish or tannish in the unglazed area. I don't think all unglazed clays will change color. This is probably due to iron in the clay and sometimes what is in the atmosphere of the kiln.

[Xell]

The color of the clay will change after firing in many cases.

Different color depends on where it is? It's light grey after firing.

You mean placement in the kiln? On Seong il's porcelain clays, for example, I notice the light color often changing to brownish or tannish in the unglazed area. I don't think all unglazed clays will change color. This is probably due to iron in the clay and sometimes what is in the atmosphere of the kiln.

I meant inside or outside of the pot, not sure how it was fired exactly, expect temperature 1300+ and real fire, not electrical kiln. Before firing dry clay was grey, darker, but not by much. I'm a bit confused on how inside became like that since by touching it feels almost same as unglazed bottom of kyusu. I guess i need to study more japanese terms related to pottery, so i can ask proper questions

[blairswhitaker]

So I recently did a SERIOUS raid of Hojo's tea ware. I frankly haven't been this impressed with a selection of clay in quite a while. this shigaraki pot by Tachi Masaki handles every steam level like a dream and really brings out some shining qualities to everything I have brewed in it. This pot is extremely porous. I filled it with water and tea leaves to season over night and beads of tea infused water had formed all over the outside of the pot as well as under the pot. holds 300ml and had to be shipped from malaysia.


Untitled by blairswhitaker, on Flickr

[blairswhitaker]

another gem from Hojo, a Shimizu Ken that holds just about 120ml. this pot really brings up the aroma and nose on a lot of senchas. It is an honest pot and will make a good tea shine, and will show off the flaws of a lower quality tea. So it does not just "improve" a tea, but seems to actually showcase its strengths and weaknesses. reduction fired sado clay.


IMG_0314 by blairswhitaker, on Flickr

[Chip]

Sweet pots blairswhitaker.

In a word ... OOOOPS!!!

[Alex]

OMG Chip. That's really weird/bad.

Looks like someone got a bit board half way through making that filter .

What a weird mistake though. Crazy to think that would of been fitted to the pot wall like that. How could an oversight like that even be made?

[David R.]

Two new kyusu already in 2013 ! This one was bought on eBay ($25 with pairing yuzamashi). 200ml. The other is still on its way and will arrive in a couple of days... Not so cheap...