Visiting California Part 1: A New Jar

Alternate title for new post: How Not to Photograph a Jar. Lighting high gloss ceramic pieces is tricky!

Trevor Stimson/Laguna Porcelain made this jar, which I purchased from the artist's wife at their booth at the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach (His young daughter excitedly sold some ceramic beads she made to my sister, too). If you're ever in Orange County during their summer or winter festivals, I recommend a visit; they have a handful of ceramic artists with good work at affordable prices, as well as many other types of art and craft.

Back when I used to throw ceramics, there was a saying that blue hare's fur (Google Image search of this term here, for easy reference) was a "money glaze." Meaning, glaze something with it, and it will sell. People love blue, and they love the deep blue and soft texture of hare's fur, also known as rutile blue. Ceramicists expressed a love/hate relationship with the glaze: the guaranteed sell worked like a pair of gilded handcuffs, stifling their ability to glaze creatively. Nonetheless, a beautiful glaze, despite its ubiquity and all grumpy comments about taste and creativity aside.

The shape is ginger-jar-ish, with a wider modern lid. The conservative shape and smooth finish shows off the glazing well. The glaze has a hare's fur feel to it, but it is better classified as a tea dust glaze (probably two or more glazes that were layered). The tea dust motes appear to have left behind streaks of darker teal and blue as they melted down the face of the vessel. They tea dust settles thickly in a matte layer of golden tan, and flecks of it looking like gold stars populate the thickly globbed black background where the glaze nearly flowed off the jar. Hare's tea dust? Dusty fur?

I liked it enough that I felt it worth risking breakage while bringing it home in my carry-on luggage.

I have some 2007 shui xian I plan to store in this jar, guarded by my tea piglet.

Tea at Work: Imperfect Pieces

Tea at work: green glazed cup and short banded pot, originally uploaded by bearsbearsbears.

Brewing green dongding oolong at work, in a cup & pot I created. The green glaze is my own recipe.

This glazed pot brews "wrongfu" green oolong particularly well. Problem is, the lid's foot (which serves as its knob) is too short to remove the lid easily, a task made more dangerous when the pot is full of boiling hot water. Nonetheless, it pours well, with no dribble.

I made the cup to test a green glaze I formulated. Tiny bubbles suspended in the glaze are responsible for the depth of color, and they float above the throwing lines. I hadn't intended this but like the effect.

Two imperfect pieces finding use--very satisfying.

At work, my teas of late have been:

• Cheap roasted dong ding blended with medium roasted da hong pao: the DHP was boring, the dong ding a tad sour. They balance each other well.


• This $99/lb green dong ding: a very forgiving green oolong purchased in Chinatown.


• 2005 or 2006 CNNP fulushouxi shu puerh square: classic heavy fermented shu pu, leaf grades 1 through 4.


• "Long jing" given to my late father by Chinese friends at the senior center


• Random sheng puerh samples: latest was a purple pu'er no longer carried by Puerhshop.com that looked and tasted like Da Xue Shan / Xiaguan "wild tree" teas.

What's in your cup at work?

Hunting and Gathering

Last Saturday at the pottery studio, I was uninspired. The previous day, I had thrown two small teapot bodies and lids, and as the pieces dried and shrank, one pot's lid did not shrink enough, and no longer fit. Somewhat disappointed in my fixing the lid too tight, my work moved to handbuilding the handles and spouts for the pots. I slowly caressed and stretched the red stoneware into passable forms, but frequently found my thoughts far from the clay between my fingers, my gaze wandering to the magnolia trees outside. Looking forward to my trip to the mountains, my eyes wouldn't look at my work.

Davin and I tested the limits of his hybrid car that evening, driving the steep roads up to Rimforest, a small community near Lake Arrowhead and on the path to Big Bear Lake. Under her pines, oaks, and cedars, the sparkling San Bernardino city lights enchanting us, we spent a relaxing night at my sister's house there, giddily inflated with clean air and elevation.

The morning put Davin, my sister, my brother-in-law, and I on the road to Big Bear. Where my thoughts at the studio strayed to the mountains, my thoughts in the car connected the mountain scenery with pottery. Each exposed trove of decomposed granite, every naked ochre-lined cliff made me want to fly out of the car and eat at the clay like a wild parrot. The anticipation of our hike to a natural spring, however, clipped my wings and sat my behind firmly in my seat, the fall foliage flying by.

A friend who used to reside in Big Bear told me of the spring. He recently brought some spring water down the mountain for us to use for tea, and I wanted to gather more for myself and my own experimentation. He gave me a map, and I decided to hunt for the spring.

We easily found the spring, located not too far off a dirt access road. Bursting forth from the recent rains, the outflow like a geyser, the spring fed a small stream that likely emptied into the lake below. The three one-gallon jugs we brought quickly filled with cold spring water, and we spent the afternoon hiking around the area. Wild roses brambled about the pines and yellow shrubs, showing juicy, red, puckering hips, their stalks bristled with thorns like a hair brush. Bark mulch and dead trees, pine saplings and baby ferns, decomposition yielded to new growth.

My sister gathered leaves to press. I gathered beetle-eaten, twisted twigs to use for teapot handles. We all took home the sights, smells, and soft taste of the cold spring water.

Back at my sister's, I gathered stray acorns to use for knobs, and cleaned out her fireplace ash to use for glaze. Happy for a haul of free, local materials, natural inspiration, and good company, I sat in contented silence for the drive down the mountain and homeward. Although I returned home loaded with water, twigs, and ash, at the threshold of the door I felt a tinge of sadness for the one thing I forgot to take: photographs.

Saturday Art Show

An announcement:

Some folks from the studio and I are holding a sidewalk sale of our student artwork this saturday from 11a-2p at the studio:

Bitter Root Pottery
7451 Beverly Boulevard (at Vista, a few blocks east of Fairfax)

There's a lot of really good work and talent at the studio. I will have lots of jars and a few gaiwans and sake bottles with me.

Come by and see us!

Glaze and Surface Texture Explorations

Absence
It's been a long while since I posted to my blog. A few things have happened to cause the delay.

First, I had an emergency move to a new apartment. The new place has very little natural light, and my attempts at macro photography of my tea sessions and pottery pieces yielded very poor results, jeapordizing my commitment to make this a visual blog.

Second, my routine quickly became: wake, work, cook, clean, pottery, gym, sleep. On weekends, I have been visiting my ailing father, building a container garden, traveling for business school interviews, and occasionally having tea with the LA Tea Affair or other groups of friends.

I have returned, macro photo studio in tow. The brown background pics are the last photos of work I took at the old apartment. The white background pics are new pieces. Many more to come in the following weeks.

Currently, my studio time has me exploring lidded forms, glaze calculation, and surface texture.

Form
Initially, progressing through pottery in the order of bowl, cylinder, vase, lidded form, teapot seemed the most logical in terms of building skills. While that may still hold true, I failed to realize that somewhere along the way I might get stuck or, as is the case, choose to stay in one subcategory of forms because I enjoy them so much. The progression above also indicates naivete about other variables: some pieces are easy in one size, more difficult in another, and the kind of clay used (stoneware, porcelain, sandy stoneware, etc.) also influences the relative ease.

Formulation
Glaze calculation's science and adjacency to cooking captured my interest, too. After reading up on the subject, I have been experimenting with altering glaze recipes, and have produced some nice variants (and ridiculous failures). Without my own kiln, though, formulating recipes from scratch will prove a time-consuming process.



Above is a glaze layering combo whose results suprised me. The Mother of Pearl glaze melts the black glaze I applied over it, creating a bluish fur texture. Detail:



Here's the same combo on a kyuusu-style teapot I made. The spout, while better and more functional than my last, hideous teapot, still needs major work. Unfortunately, I neglected to poke a hole in the lid for proper air pressure. The lid fits so tightly that water does not come out when the pot is full.





Texture
I have picked up some tips & tricks regarding surface texture. The two jars below form the results of two variants of a single process. With the first jar, it gives the piece a texture like human skin, though the photographs capture this poorly:







In this jar, dry clay and small holes acecnt the slight cracking texture. I really like the raw earth look to the piece.









I have new pieces that take this technique farther, but I am waiting for them to finish firing. I will share them soon.

Hopefully, though, my next entry will be a tea entry.

Gaiwans & Pitchers, Cups, a Jar, and an Ugly Teapot

New works out of the kiln. I'm still figuring out the best curves and knob styles for gaiwans, ones that avoid burning heat but are still comfortable to hold and functional. I'm happy with the glazes, mostly.

Gaiwans & Pitchers:

Black and Blue Gaiwan:
This started as a project for ABX from Teachat. He wanted a "drippy" blue and black gaiwan that was somewhat small and wider.



I'm really pleased with the result, but I need to use less blue glaze next time. First, I think the exterior of the piece doesn't utilize the black as negative space, not as well as it could. Second, the glaze dripped onto the foot of the piece, and I had to chip the foot to get the piece off the kiln shelf.

But, the interior is great:




Mother of Pearl Gaiwan with Slip Decoration:
Love this glaze. This gaiwan pours well without burning my fingers, but it's a little wide. Small hands might have trouble with it.




Mother of Pearl Set, Ming-lidded Gaiwan and Pitcher:
The lid's not quite deep enough, and it gets somewhat hot. Thankfully, though, the pitcher pours well.




Closeup of the pitcher glaze:



Mother of Pearl Pitcher:
An experiment with throating the spout. Still need to test the pour against other pitchers I've made.





Cups:

Several sets of mother-of-pearl glazed cups. The set of three has thicker glaze, hence the foggier texture. The thinner glaze and ribs on the other cups bring out the pinks and blues of the glaze. The cups are quite small and suitable for gongfu.









Jar:

Tri-lobed Jar in Green Satin Glaze
This glaze usually doesn't move, but it moved enough to stick to the shelf, so the foot is slightly damaged. But, the rest of it is gorgeous. I really like the shape. Two lids for better tea storage ability.



Inner lid:




My First Teapot:

Well, I tried. The spout and handle are too big and the glaze went orange. The spout torqued in the firing, so it's slightly crooked in addition to being oversized and hideous. Throwing spouts, I learned, requires a lot of skill that I do not yet have.

The handle, while it looks disproportionate, is comfortable to hold. That's probably the only plus.

Pottery Show / Craft Fair

Davin and I will be displaying our pottery and making tea for the visitors at our studio's student show. If you're in LA, feel free to stop by and say hi! We will only be at the evening show.

21 and over only: vodka, beer, appetizers (we have a chef!) and tea will be served.

Two Oolong Jars

Two new Oolong jars from the kiln, both designed with storage in mind.

First, a multicolor jian-style glazed jar with slip applique:










Second, a soft brown glazed dual-lid storage jar with green glaze accents:









That is all! I'm off to Atlanta on Thursday for my first business school interview. Wish me luck!

New Pieces

Black Basaltware Whiskey Cups / Yunomi, Set of Four
Collaboration between Jason Fasi (throwing) and Davin Dawson (glazing):




Red Stoneware Tea Tray with Rust Glaze and Lichen Detail
The top only fits one way because the lid shrank less than the lip of the tray. Still, I'm very happy with the glazing and clay texture.



White Opal Gaiwan
This piece's lid unfortunately suffered damage. Artfully hidden in photograph.



Footless Yellow Spot Gaiwan
Layered glazes, wax resist decoration