Here's Wasim (Oyama teacher who trained with Michel - Hey, Wasim, give me the link to your blog again so I can put it on mine), Saki (my student), and Masaki (her friend and Wasim's student) - we stopped for soba and udon noodles before going to make pottery.

On our way there, Saki took us to this cool indigo operation where thread and cloth are dyed in this really intense indigo - all of these lids cover wells with the dye in them:

This woman gave us a demo on how to make various objet d'art - she made the whole thing look so effortless and I think I learned more from her ten minute demo than the spring I took ceramics in college:

Here's Saki looking tentatively at the wheel - speaking of the wheels, the operation is set up so that you sit either cross-legged or on your knees while you work with the clay - this way of sitting is comfortable for about two seconds after which your feet and legs fall asleep and you almost fall into your clay.

Masaki took to the wheel and created several pieces with aplomb (yes, I know I just used aplomb (and not long after using objet d'art) and I apologize):

Here's the planks with all of our work. We basically paid about $15.00 for unlimited clay and use of the wheels for an hour. Once we decided on the pieces we wanted to keep, we paid an additional fee per piece to have them glazed and fired (I chose three):

Here's Masaki finishing up her last piece:

And Saki and Wasim proudly gazing upon their work:

These are the kilns in which the pottery is (or was - not sure if these were still being used) fired:

Here's the gang at a shrine that Michel told us to check out up in the hills outside of Mashiko - this one was built in 1492:

Tonight Saki came to class and brought me my three pieces (which shrunk down by about 25% with firing). I was so excited as I unwrapped each piece and saw what a great job they did glazing each one. Sayaka, our head teacher loved them and was surprised that I had made them.
Here they are:
First, a squat sort of vase I made - this one is my favorite:

This is a green tea cup that I made - not my favorite after firing, but it holds tea:

And last, a sake pitcher that shrunk down - the shrinkage (to use a Costanza-ism) may disqualify it from being a proper pitcher, so it may have to be a vase

I want to go again soon!
3 comments:
those are gorgeous! make me something!
I will put price tags on them and sell them at Pier 1. They are better than what we have and they will still be technically imported!
So beautiful! The glaze is great, too - I love that whitish wave on the first one. I can't wait to see them in use.
Matt,
That's great that you could make pottery. You seem to have a talent.
I just saw this weekend that an American making pottery in Mashiko has some of his wares for sale at the Northern Clay Center in Mpls.
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