Sunday, August 8, 2010

Many things

To my surprise my teacher had enough pieces to do an RF firing this week, so I came home with many new things this week! まずまった下手に日本語にすみません!急いで書きました ><

First are the white stone clay plates, 8 to be exact, which turned out quite nicely. I used Mokuhakutoumei (F) and RF firing. The color is a cool gray tone with some green undertones.

思った通り皿を焼くときは早かった!そして今週はいっぱい持ってきた。
まずは白石粘土皿8枚です。もくはくとうめい(F) RF焼き方。色はクールなグレーと押さえた緑色。


They should work nicely with food. The cool color and simple design should make colorful foods like carrots, peppers, broccoli, fruits etc. stand out.
この皿は食べ物と似合うでしょう?色と形はシンプルで色が綺麗な野菜といい感じになると思う。








The etchings in the clay also add interest. Overall I like the simpleness, and the brown specs of the white stone clay. The plates are easy to stack, easy to wash and hopefully easy to use.
エッチングのデザインも面白いと思う。一般的にこのシンプルさと茶色のスポットが好き。この皿も積み重ねりやすい共に使いやすいかな?






This plate was slightly thicker (5mm) than all the others, (3mm) as you can see the glaze turned out slightly different on it as well. この皿は他(3mm)より太いです(5mm)色は3mmよりちょっと深いです。








Next were two experiment plates. Lately I've wanted to try making more square and rectangular pieces. I thought these would turn out slightly larger but red Shigaraki #104 clay shrinks quite a bit! I did a Tenmoku glaze (C) with RF firing, which resulted in a nice metallic color. I imprinted a line design on the face of both plates and the combo of the imprint and glaze looks cool and has a great texture. I'll definitely do this imprinting and Tenmoku glaze again.
次のさらは研究皿だった。最近は長方形作ってみたかった。この2枚はもっと大きいになるつもりだったけど、けっこう縮んだ。2枚で赤信楽粘土、RF焼き方、てんもく(C)色。皿の上にデザインを書いて、いいテクスチャがよく出来た。またこの作りかったするつもり。


Out of this batch, this is my favorite piece. Wheel thrown shallow bowl, with attached spots. Black stone clay with Kohagi (R) glaze RF firing. Kohagi and black clay are a popular combination, since the contrast of white and black look great together. I especially love how the spots I put on turned out. Great bowl!
今回の一組にこのさらが一番よく出来たと思う。ろころで作った浅い椀です。黒粘土でこはぎ色 RF焼き方。この黒粘土とこはぎ色は皿山で人気なコンボです。スポットが目立て良かった!嬉しい


I placed spots on the underside as well.
椀の裏にもスポット。











Lastly, my recent artistic piece. A beetle :) Besides doing the basic plates and cups and all I've been working on developing an animal series. All pieces must be beautiful and usable in some way. This is Red Shigaraki #104 with Tenmoku glaze RF firing. It's about 18cm long with tiny holes forming a design on its back.

最後にちょっと美術の作品です。甲虫です。カップと皿以外は動物シリーズを作業中です。基本は作品は綺麗で役に立つもので利用できる。この甲虫は赤信楽104てんもく色でRF焼き方。18cmくらいと背中に小さい穴がある。









I made up the design as I went along. It turned out pretty well. I hand painted the glaze on certain parts since I didn't want it clogging up the tiny holes.











I used a nail to make the tiny holes. I had to wait for the clay to dry for a few days to make sure the holes wouldn't close or be warped.

数日くらい粘土が乾燥してから釘を使って穴を開けた。それをしないと穴が上手く出来ない可能が多い。







Now for the useful part. The inside is hollow with a base piece. You can put a tea candle inside. With a dim lit room it'll make beautiful shadows on the wall. It can also be used as an incense holder.
はい、役に立つことについて!虫の中は空洞でティー蝋燭が入れる。暗い部屋に置くと壁や天井に綺麗な影ができる。香炉用もできる。

More pieces to come soon!また近いうちに書きます!



Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Sultry Summer

It's been a slow summer at Sara Yama Studio. There's no air conditioning in the studio, only ceiling fans that help circulate the already sultry air. Since the kiln is in the next room, when anything gets fired the entire building is like a sauna. So during this season most of the students (including myself) relax a bit and do things at a slower pace. (Some even take then entire month of August off!) It is a super quiet time which can be nice since occasionally I'm the only one in the studio with Arai Sensei. But the less people means the less pieces there are to be fired so I was unlucky enough to miss the RF and OF firings last week, which means the 6 white plates and 11 black plates I have made won't get fired until the end of August...too bad. I have also made 8 new red stone plates (post to come soon) that also won't be finished till the end of August as well. Good news is, for September I'll have plenty of plates to give the Seifusou Hotel as samples.

*Right picture is one of the lights; a spider made his web and ended up stealing the light's string in the process. It was a pretty funny sight since it's not unreachable without a ladder now haha.

やっと夏休みが始まりました。今、教室は結構暑くって、仕事しにくいです。エアコンがなくて天井ファンしかありません。そして今の季節は生徒はあんまりいないし、残ってる人はマイペースで作品を作る。つまり、生徒が少ないと焼く作品も少ないから前の紹介した白粘土6枚の皿がまだ焼いていない。8月の全部作る作品は月末に焼く予定です。6枚共に来る粘土11枚と赤信楽104番8枚も作った。

*右上の写真は居室の電気です。電気の紐が蜘蛛の巣にかかっている。面白いと思って写真撮った。今は手に入れないからはしごしか使わない 笑

So the11 black plates are all about the same size and have my signature etchings carved on the surface. I have glazed them all in a similar fashion, one base color and R Kohagi drops near the etchings. (Picture below) 黒の11枚はいつも通りに自分のデザインに作ってる。全部同じ風に色もつけった。ベース色とこはぎのドロップス(写真は下)







I chose 3 color palettes. 三つのカラーパレットにした。

Kirabo (B) as base, which is one of the most matte glazes there are. On the black clay it has a blue hue to it and has a very cool texture, I think the light blue from the Kohagi accents could produce an interesting combination. (Fingers crossed!) I chose this combo for the uniqueness it could bring and for the subtle color. I did 5/11 plates in this combo. OF firing ベースはきらぼ、選んだ理由はきらぼは一番マットな色とこのコンボは面白いそうと思ってった。(上手くいくように願う!) 5枚このコンボにした、OF焼き

Next was Mangan (W) This glaze with the black clay has a nice rich dark brown color with lighter brown wash mixed in. Mangan and kohagi are a popular pair at Sara Yama so I thought I would go with the trend and see how they would fare up together on black clay. (Most of the students use Bizen or white Shigaraki) I chose Mangan since the brown looks nice with food. I hope the Kohagi blends well...again fingers crossed! 5/11 in this color combo. OF firing 次はマンガンのコンボだった。マンガンと黒粘土を使うと結構いい茶色が出来るし、こはぎと面白い色が出来るかも。皿山で人気なコンボですけど、大体皆さんは備前や白信楽に使うコンボです。選んだ理由は茶色は食べ物と似合う色です。。また上手くいくように願う!5枚にした、OF焼き
Last but not least. Soba (M) has great metallic hue specs blended into the deep brown color. (It is usually a brighter rusty red color but the black clay makes it brown) I took a chance and also tried the Kohagi accents on it as well, here's hoping for the best! 1/11 plates, RF firing. 最後はそばのコンボ。そばはいい金属色の小さいスポットがあるし、深い茶色もある。(そぼのもっともっと色は大体赤いですけど、黒粘土と茶色になる)これもチャンスのコンボです、うまくいけばいいけどね!

After glazing my 11 plates I had extra time so I made 3 pieces on the wheel. Here they are! I used the last of my red #104 Shigaraki clay. (I found out recently there's over a hundred different kinds of Shigaraki clay! wow! maybe a post on that in the future!) 色つけるあとはちょっと時間あったから最後持ってる赤信楽104番を使って三つの作品作った。(最近信楽種類は100以外あると知った!びっくりした!未来のポストに書こうかな!)













Small bowl, this turned out well. Nice thin trim. 小さいワン いい感じ線が細い














First of a set of two small shallow bowls. 2枚皿セットの一枚です 浅いワン














Last bowl. 最後の浅いワン

I plan to do the Kirabo and Tenmoku combo again for these pieces (metallic and black) since I love the look so much! この三つはてんもくときらぼを使うはずです、(金属色の色)このコンボ大好きだから!

***I'll be on vacation for the next 10 days, so more to come once I return!***

今からの10日間は休みです!また今度!いい夏休みを!

今回急いで日本語書いたから間違えが多いので申し訳ない!