New Year / New Pots

Happiest of 2014's to you all. It's a balmy, grey, 10 (C) degrees today, and I'm none to envious of the reports from America of temperatures hovering down far closer to zero (F)  than Kochi will ever get. I have so much to tell after a six day trip to Singapore and the issuing in of a new year, but I'll save all that for a post all of it's own. 

I've been able to sneak back into the studio since returning to school, though not near as much as I would like. In the time given I've been cranking out forms to be carved after they get to leather hard. Mostly slab work but they're a blast to crank out. I miss the wheel and can't wait to have a biger block of time to devot to it at work.  



Look at those lovely rows of comerical cups! Meet some new inspiration : the Kopi coffee cup. But! That looks like a regular cup and saucer. You might be thinking. In Singapore drink stands are called kopi tiam, and there is a lovely little history to these style of cups. The suacers are deeper than their more conventional cousins, and I just absolutely love both the coffee (sweetend with condensed milk) and the form of these little mugs. Hopefully I'll have time soon to try my hand at them, but figured the first post of the new year should include at least one goal for the comming year. 

Speaking of the new year i have a host of resolutions and hopes for 2014, a good deal of which deal entirely with pottery. On our way home from Singapore Steph and I stopped in Kyoto to aquire some good luck for the comming year.  

Nothing fills the heart with better feelings for the comming year's potential like macha, a delightful little sweet, and the best company I could ask for - all enjoyed in the outer guardens of Kinkakujin (the Golden Pavilion). It's going to be a wonderful year. I hope your Holidays were magical and your already doing well with your own resolutions.  

Toys, Important dates, and lots of Plates

 It's been busy BUSY weeks since I last posted here. The summer sun seems to have come and finally burned off the residual moisture of last weeks tail end to the rainy season. As seems par for the course the rainy season saw my dear mellon and cucumber plants consumed by white powdery mold, but my cherry tomatoes seem to be doing ok and my greens carry on as though there were nothing wrong in the least.  I've grown esspecially fond of my fish pot with two big gold fish, and a medly of water plants to keep it well oxygenated. They greet me every time I go out onto my balcony.

All too soon I'll be venturing home to visit the family in West Virginia for the first time in two years at the end of this month. I'm excited beyond beleif to see them. So, with packing added to the already impressive list of things to do I have been releived that I still managed to make time to create my pots. I've been testing out some new (absolutely astonishingly great) tools. We loaded two kilns full of my work and some student works and fired them up. The first firing came out very well for the most part, but unfortnately the second firing seems ot have unintentionaly gone too hot. This caused the glazes to become more muted than I was going for. All of this push for work is because I have some wonderful news! In early-mid September I'll be having my first solo exhibition. More details to come, along with fun promotional goodness, but I just wanted to relay the good news with this weeks up date. KIeep creating!

Great new toys from Mudtools. Thanks Mom and Dad these work wonderfuly.
I am esspecially fond of the rubber ribs and the new clay cutter.



I've really been focusing a lot on cup and saucer designs.
These were from the most recent long cool down firing.

I'm still trying to dial in the right mix of glazes and temperature change to result in the most
atmosphiric looking results. I don't quite have it yet, but I'm always after those
Bizen and Shigaraki colors. I am quite happy with these though.

Golden

Well folks it's the end of Golden Week here in Japan, and this means the rust is shaking off from 4 days off work. I just put the 38th knotch in my 88 Temple belt. Tuesday and Thursday's post didn't happen, and for that I am most sorry. To make it up to you I want to fill your eye holes with photos!

One of my new glazes from the last firing on some yunomi.  

One of my favorite tea bowls I've produced. My mother managed to spirit it away with her back to the far flung soils of the good old U.S.A. 

Serving plate with a surprise splash of green and red. 

Some new coffee mugs  

It took two full 6 to 7 hour days of cycling to get there, but this is where I spent my 4 day holiday thinking on adventures and pots to come!

And lastly a friendly reminder to all you local fans out there that May 20th I will be at Hata Fest on Irino Beach selling my work along with many other lovely ALT artists and creators of scrumptious sweets. Come hang out at the beach, talk, and buy some pottery! Hata Fest will also be goign on on May 19th as a music only day. So, if you aren't like me and have to go to the Kochi Prefectural Sports Tournament on that Saturday, get yur buns down to the west coast and soak up some sun (fingers crossed on that one) and culture! 

The Blues

Not many words today. Just some old slides of my blues, 

and the knowledge that today was a fantastic day in the studio. 

Looking forward to Thursday's post. Hope you all had wonderful Mondays. 

Families 1

Happy monday everyone. Here's some more of the older work. One of the ways I try to practice my throwing is through attempted repetition of shape and glazing effects. At the moment I would say I can only create a series of pieces that at best share similar traits. A bit like echoes of the original form or concept. While I like that each piece has a unique personality, I really crave the dexterity, muscle memory, and steadiness of hand that comes with years of throwing.

Well that's it for Monday. Have a great week and we'll see you on Thursday with some shots of what's going on in the studio this week.