Emptying the Noborigama

April 18th, we opened the long awaited noborigama at Sara Yama Studios. Although taking the pieces out of the noborigama is much easier and faster than the reverse, it still takes a lot of man power and coordination to do it correctly. All students of Sara Yama are supposed to help so there were about 40 of us helping that day.








First we must scrape away the sand goop like mixture we put on the brick doorway a week ago. A wedge like metal tool is what Arai Sensei uses and it works like a charm. Since all the water has obviously evaporated from the sand it falls off quite easily when slight pressure is applied. It results in a sandy mess all over the floor and your shoes.

After all the sand is removed, the bricks are numbered again with chalk so when we do the next noborigama we won't have to waste time figuring out which brick goes where.

The bricks are removed one by one...










This is the first glimpse into the noborigama...you can see tons of ash on the floor and the glazed pieces on the right.





The ash must be cleaned out from the noborigama before we can begin taking the pieces out. A long iron rod with a wedge on the end is used to drag the ash out. (Yes, theres that much ash it needs to be dragged!) After large amounts are removed, we can sweep out the inside to get the rest. The ash is put into styrofoam boxes. I asked what they do with the ash, figuring it'd make good gardening soil additive, but actually I learned that the ash can be used to make the medicine put on pieces to make sure the glaze doesn't run. Nothing goes to waste!

Now that the ash is mostly gone, a towel is laid down so Arai Sensei can kneel inside while passing out each piece one by one.

A light is placed inside and it looks magical. All the pieces have turned a nice brown color. Now the passing begins...











From the kiln doorway...



















to the tarp...


All the students line up and begin passing the pieces one by one out of the kiln. There is a grassy park right across from the studio and a large blue tarp is laid out to put the pieces on
.
The pieces are laid out in the exact order they were put in. The reason we do that is to see the effects of the kiln on the pieces. Certain spots in the kiln are wonderful, resulting in great ware, certain spots aren't so great and the wares don't get fired all the way through...




Unfortunately, about half of my 20 or so pieces did not get fired properly and will have to be re-done in the electric kiln in order to turn out sufficient. A piece that did not get fired properly looks like this. It's dull in color and has small bubble looking lumps on its surface. I was pretty bummed out that half of my pieces didn't turn out, but it's good to know they can be re-done. Crisis averted.



The pieces that did turn out are here... 2 yunomi (tea cups) one small vase, one large salad bowl, and 8 kozara (or small plates) *All are free form except the 2 cups and vase, those where wheel thrown. I was going for a natural theme. (look how the pieces are nice and shiny compared to the one above)

Things that I'm happy with are the vase and tea cups, they turned out well and have a nice mix of clay and glaze showing. The flower shaped kozara turned out so so. The next batch of kozara I will not use any texture imprinting on the clay, I found out it prevented the glazes from flowing down and mixing easily and I ended up with bald spots on some pieces. I was able to see what color combos suited each other (like I mentioned before i used about 6 different glazes in different combos) in the noborigama, and what colors did not.

As you can see in this picture the noborigama is great for earthen colors, not so great for anything but. I experimented this time and brought in some blues and yellows and lighter colors but sadly most of my pieces with the lighter colors didn't get fired all the way and will have to be put in the electric kiln anyways. But a few did make it and I didn't care for the result. Looking at everyone elses pieces I noticed the black sandy clay with a white glaze was the most interesting and eye catching. Bizen and Shigaraki clay mostly turned out in brown hues, very subdued. All the glazes in general ended up turning out mild compared to their electric firing process counterparts. (you can also see the earthen color in the photos above) Next noborigama I'll use the black clay and experiment with white glazes. Overall this noborigama was a great learning experience, and I can't wait for the next one this summer!

Imari's International Amateur Ceramics Contest

April 1st to the 11th Saga Prefecture's (佐賀県） Imari city （伊万里市）hosted their annual International Amateur Ceramics Contest. It is held in Okawamachi's （大川町）Nabashima Ceramics building. (鍋島焼会館）Any amateur potter in Japan can participate, foreign or Japanese. This was my first contest to participate in and my first time going to Imari's Okawamachi. This event is every year and potters young and old from all over Japan send in their pieces to get judged. The top prize is 80000 yen, second prize is 30000 yen and 3rd place (going to two people) is 20000 yen.


These are the top three places this year. 1st prize goes to Nakazaki from Nagoya city,(green plate) second place goes to Harumi from Tokyo,(black vase) 3rd places go to Maeda from Wakayama prefecture (2 person statue) and Amin from Tokyo. (brown vase to the far left) Congratulations!

These pieces made honorable mention and are my personal favorites.

Owl figure and a vase with eggplants on it.

















Kids are also involved in the contest, here are a few of my favorite figurines.











Lastly here's my piece! The turtle in the middle. I didn't win anything this year, but I hope to next year! I was the only turtle in the whole show hehe.

Imari's Okawamachi

Imari is famous for it's beautiful porcelain and intricate designs. The best place to buy and see pieces is in Imari's Okawamachi. It is situated in the middle of some mountains right outside Imari city's main town area. Only about a 7 minute drive from Imari station, it is easy to get to and a must stop for any pottery lover.

You'll feel a million miles away in this quaint pottery village with misty mountains and kiln chimneys all around. There are over a dozen small and large stores to see in Okawamachi. Some are modestly priced while most are for higher budget shoppers. Expect to spend 3000 yen and up for tea/coffee cups, 5000 yen and up for dinner plates, and 10000 yen and up for dish sets. Porcelain ware are the main pieces sold at most of the stores in Okawamachi, but nestled between the porcelain pieces you can find some other clay types and glazes.


This was one of the older style stores I found in Okawamachi. It's at least 70 years old and even has a fire pit with a tea kettle in the center to keep the place warm in winter! Very cool! Besides this place, most of the stores have modernized but still keep the traditional Japanese feeling to them. Expect simple spaces with great track lighting and soft Japanese string music playing in the background.




Make sure to check out the main bridge in town. It's covered with broken pottery pieces and is quite beautiful. Check out the stream below as well, there are 6 huge koi fish swimming there. Overall Imari is a great stop for any ceramics lover, check it out!

Firing the Noborigama

Saturday April 10th at 4am the Tamayaki (also known as noborigama) was fired up, making it the first one of 2010 at Sara Yama Studio.
The noborigama's fire is fed from 4am to 10pm, so a total of 16 hours of manual labor and temperature monitoring is needed. Sara Yama has about 50 students including myself from around the area. Each person is required to do a 3 hour shift to help with the noborigama.

To understand the workings of the noborigama I'll go through its stages.
From 4am the fire is lit and fed a constant supply of wood. At this point the type of wood does not matter, usually Arai Sensei has old boards or junk pieces from wood shops near by who donate old scraps they don't want to dispose of. (Of course the wood has to be pure, no paints or nails in them)

The temperature of the kiln has to rise steadily, rising too fast or too slow means the pieces will not turn out correctly. So feeding the fire the right amount of wood is tricky. Luckily modern technology has a helping hand in making sure we do it right. In the picture on the left you'll see a beige box, this little machine monitors the temperature of the 2nd and 4th dome of the noborigama (remember the noborigama has 4 domes) This machine is attached to the noborigama with two wires that have temperature readers at their ends, the readers are located at the top of each dome. This is the only technology used in the process, the rest is all done by hand, no machines or gadgets.

The temperature should rise 100 degrees Celsius per hour (50C per half hour) The temperature is recorded every 30 minutes in the Sara Yama's noborigama log book.












Going back to the schedule...like I mentioned before, from 4am the fire is started, the wood is fed into the base dome from the front. (See picture on the left.) From 2pm (after 10 hours has passed) the temperature is at 1000C. See the iron door on the right side of the kiln front? This door is now shut after reaching 1000C and wood is no longer fed through the front.

But a few hours before (11am) the front iron door is closed, we move to the side of the 2nd dome. If you remember from my previous post, this is the door where the pieces were handed to Arai Sensei one by one to be stacked in the noborigama. Since then bricks have been put in the door. (Of course before the fire was started at 4am) Since the door is an odd shape the bricks are of all different shapes and sizes and of course numbered so they can be put back in the correct order. Look at the picture of the door, you can see the numbered bricks. Can you find number 27? It's towards the bottom left hand side, it has an indent on it. Remember this brick for later on.



Retracing our steps, the iron door has been sealed and we've moved to the door on the 2nd dome. As you can see between the bricks there are cracks, letting heat seep through, for the remaining firing process we do not want heat seeping through. So a mixture of just regular old sand and water is made, it's a gooey consistency, good for slapping on wet bricks.












Before slopping on the sand mixture the bricks are prepared by wetting them with water. At Sara Yama an old broom and bucket of water do the job quite nicely.

















Using gloves, the sand mixtures is pressed into the bricks. There's no right or wrong technique to this, just as long as the cracks are sealed sufficiently all is well. It's super messy but nothing goes to waste, the sand that falls is picked up again with a shovel and pushed back into the bricks until it sticks. Now that the door is sealed, it is let to dry and wood is fed into the front until 2pm.

Now from 2pm, things change drastically and it gets more complicated. With the side door dry and the front iron door shut it is time to proceed to the most important step. Remember brick 27? Well it is special since its removable, it is now the only hole to put fire wood into the noborigama. (See picture on left, you can see the roaring fire inside through the small hole)

















No more scrap wood, now pine is fed into the fire. You can see the small wood cuts of pine here, they're the perfect size to fit through brick 27's hole. This entire pile of wood will be fed into the noborigama from 2pm until the end, 10pm. (total of 8 hours)












Putting the pine wood into the side is a 3 person job and is very labor intensive. There is a technique to this, three sets of 15 logs are thrown into the noborigama at a time, at intervals of about 15 minutes. The middle person has the easiest job, so beginners are usually in the middle since all they have to do is pass the logs between the first and third person. The first person passes the logs from the pile to the second person and they count the logs out loud to make sure the correct amount is inserted. Second person passes to the third person. The third person has the toughest job, also while counting the logs they throw them into the fire through the tiny hole, but there's also a technique to this as well. The first set of 15 logs has to be thrown quite far into the kiln so the angle in which the logs are tossed in has to be perfect otherwise they pile up and never reach the other side of the noborigama. If this happens the fire is uneven inside which means the firing process could be ruined if it keeps happening. The second set of 15 logs goes into the center of the noborigama, and also needs to be thrown at a certain angle to reach the right spot. The third set of logs is the easiest to throw since it's the closest to the hole and doesn't need much power.
This may sound simple but the entire process happens in a flash. Imagine throwing 45 logs into a hole the size of your hand, while counting them and aiming them at the right spot in less than a minute. I tried the first persons position and messed up terribly the first time. The logs piled up at the hole and I just ended up embarrassing myself more so than helping. It takes a lot of practice and power. The men mostly do this job, but they welcomed me to try and encouraged me to keep trying again. Eventually I'll get the hang of it.











After the pine is added, the smoke from the noborigama turns black, as you can see to the left. After 8 hours of feeding 45 logs into the kiln every 15 minutes brick 27 is sealed with the sand mixture and the noborigama is left to sit for one week to cool down.

Sunday, April 18th we will open the noborigama and see how all of our pieces turned out. I'm so excited! I hope the 18 pieces I put in are still intact!
**Picture is me and my pottery friends! Come visit us at Sara Yama!

Glazes

There are many types of glazes throughout Japan, all with their own characteristics and uses. The Japanese ceramics color palette could be called subdued compared to other countries. Since many of the glazes are colors that are found throughout nature. Earthy browns and reds, natural greens and blues and gentle yellows and whites. The colors harmonize with each other and create pieces that are easy on the eyes with quiet beauty.

The glazes at Sara Yama Studio reflect the Japanese color palette very well. In the picture above you can see the the range of glazes found at the studio. Like I mentioned above, it is easy to see how these colors could fit so well in natural settings.

There are 26 glazes at Sara Yama, ranging from soft black, pale white to burnt reds and ocean blues. I have to admit, when I first saw my color choices at Sara Yama almost a year ago I was disappointed at the lack of medatsu iro, or colors that stand out. I was hoping to find pinks, electric blues, bright greens and shiny golds but I was instead presented with low key natural tones, which seemed boring to me at the time. After working with the colors for a few months, I learned the error of my narrow thinking and have grown to love the beautiful and gentle hues. Japanese glazes implore you to look closer and study each piece, since usually once you look closely the depths and hidden features of the piece are discovered. Learning to use these mild colors in an imploring way is a true challenge and it is easy to see why Japanese ceramics are some of the best in the world. It takes time and a trained eye to learn how to utilize and manipulate each glaze to its full potential.

Like I said before, there are 26 glazes at Sara Yama but two firing processes so actually there are 52 colors to choose from. Some of the color differences between the two processes are hardly noticeable but for some the difference is drastic.

Here I lined up the glaze sample side by side, left is OF firing and right is RF firing. (both photos)

The left side photo are glazes that look relatively the same OF or RF, but the right side photo shows glazes that are very different in OF and RF firing.

OF or RF also determines the gloss of a glaze. In the right side photo, you can see the difference in gloss from the first cups in line. The left side (OF) is highly glossy, while the right side (RF) is matte and slightly iridescent.

The ring of glazes here are my ten favorite colors at Sara Yama. I mostly like to use dark red browns and green blue colors. But I've also started to experiment with yellows and purples.

This red is my absolute favorite glaze. It is bold yet subdued. The left is OF firing and right is RF firing. I find myself mostly using the OF firing process since the red color comes out more. More to come on glazes soon.

Loading the Tamayaki

Last night we began to load the tamayaki, or wood fire kiln at Sara Yama Studio. The size, whether its glazed or not and the shape of the piece determines where it will be put in the kiln. The glazed pieces tend to go in the back, while the unglazed pieces go towards the front. The front is where the wood is fed into the kiln so it is lower temperature ideal for unglazed pieces, the back is the hottest part of the kiln, so glazed pieces do well there. The shape of the tamayaki is the key to firing the pieces correctly. The kiln is built on a slant, almost like a giant staircase. There are 4 steps, with a dome on each step and a small door on each dome (except the base dome where the fire is fed) Loading the tamayaki is not a one person job, it takes at least 4 people to put in pieces smoothly and efficiently. The pieces for the tamayaki are laid out in front of the kiln, and measured. The pieces with similar heights are put together, while odd sized and shaped pieces are put in last.

First stone slabs are prepared with sand spread thinly across the base. The pieces will be stacked on these slabs and the sand is to protect the kiln in case the glazes run or melt past the base of each piece. Since the tamayaki gets to 1200C the glazes tend to run more than if they were in an electric kiln. Where to draw the line of your glaze is usually trial and error, if you play it safe sometimes the result is a piece that isn't glazed to the base, if you take your chances the glaze could run over and then have to be chiseled off the stone slab, which could break your piece. Arai Sensei has a 3 finger rule. Leave 3 fingers of space from the base of your piece, 2 fingers for the electric kiln.

After the slabs are prepared they are then passed to Arai Sensei inside the kiln, where he carefully stacks them with pieces on top. Clay stackers, as I like to call them, make space between the stone slabs and allow the maximum amount of space to be used inside the kiln. It is very delicate and time consuming work, but once the pieces are stacked they are stable and won't fall down.

Inside the Tamayaki space is tight, so only one person can fit at a time. Arai Sensei is a small guy and even he can't stand up all the way. It is not for the claustrophobic hehe.

Each piece is passed inside one by one.

Look at the walls of the tamayaki, you can see its glossy. This is from the vapour of many firings before it. The bricks end up becoming glazed themselves!

We did not finish loading the kiln last night, but soon the stacks of pieces will fill this entire space, front to back, not a centimeter to spare. More pieces will be put in this Friday, then walls will be sealed and ready for the firing to start at 4am on Saturday morning. More to come soon!

Tamayaki

22 pieces to be put in the traditional wood fired kiln this coming Saturday, April 10th. I glazed them all today, 6 different colors and different combinations on each piece. The wood fire kiln will take one week to cool down once the wood is stopped being fed to the fire. So I won't get to see my pieces until April 18th!

I have bizen blay, white clay and bizen white clay mixes going into the wood kiln.

Watch for the next post about the workings of the tamayaki or wood fire kiln. Also before and after pictures of the pieces.