A day in the studio.

Here are some small porcelain pieces. They are made from a porcelain that has a little bit of iron, so that they will flash in the wood fire. I like a few of them, some of them I'm not yet convinced of. I'll wait for tomorrow to see how I feel about them before I give any of them the elbow. It is raining right now, we are supposed to get 6 to 9" of snow tonight.

Make good pots
~Craig

A taste of Seoul

Here is a taste of Seoul, S Korea. This is a stainless steel sculpture of a man hammering. The arm and hammer go up and down. You walk around the corner and surprise!!

Firing with wood

Sometimes I have to remind myself, that the wood is actually doing the firing and not me.

Make good pots

~Craig

Snowing and Porcelain

It's snowing and I'm throwing porcelain. Somehow that seems fitting with the whiteness of Winter. Here are a couple of yunomi's and a small lidded jar the happened today. Very white!!

Make good pots,
Craig

On the Bench

Lately there hasn't been anything much to take a picture of. Winter is upon us and we have been doing allot of preparing for a Minnesota winter. We put up several more cords of wood for the firings of next year. This feels very good, there is enough wood for possibly three firings!
I put up this picture from last months trip to Korea. A small boy sitting next to a sculpture. I always like a good picture, you probably do too.

Make good pots

~Craig

Back to the wheel

After trading in the trowel and level, for the chainsaw and woodspliter, time to trade in the chainsaw and splitter for the wheel and water bucket. There is finally time to throw some pots. There was about 100lbs. of porcelain in the mixer so that's where the throwing will start. These are some tokouri, for the spring firing, next something to drink out of.
Winter has finally hit and it is non to soon to get back into the studio!
Make good pots,
~Craig

.Tsuruta Yoshihisa

A real highlight of the kilnbuildiing in Taku ( there were many) was meeting . Tsuruta Yoshihisa and having him so graciously demonstrate Karatsu throwing techniques. His mastery of the making is superb, and his insight into the history and why "this is like that " with Karatsu ware is unequaled. A very generous and thoughtful person.

woodpile

Thursday and part of Friday were used putting up wood. With the help of Leona, Lee, Jedd ; we were able to put up about four more cords of wood. I'm feeling a little smug about this at the moment. We worked hard to get the wood put aside because of a forecast snow on Saturday and Sunday. The wood work got done and it snowed on schedule, and we were not out in the snow, cutting and stacking.
The wood should be nice and seasoned for the spring firing. I may get another four cords next week if the weather improves. I always like to have a least, two firings worth of wood on hand when I fire. Three firings worth would be better, but I don't have the space right now. Having a surplus of wood takes away the stress of running out of wood, or having judgments on firing, not for the good of the pots, but because you might run out of wood.
Leona is a great wood stacker. She grew up with wood for heat, as one of the younger children of the family, her job was to stack the wood after it was split. The stokers can now thank her for wood that is very well organized, and neatly stacked. This doesn't seem like much, but on three to five day firings, organization makes a big difference.

Make good pots.
~Craig

New Kiln In Taku, Japan

Hello All: I haven't posted in a long time. A bit of time away from the computer was needed. Here is a link to what I have been up to,
http://karatsupots-workshop.blogspot.com/
This wood fired kiln was made in a workshop the Mike Martino hosted at his studio in Taku, Japan. I was the guest artist. Mike and I designed this kiln over a two year period. The workshop was glorious and the kiln that got built is top notch. I am very proud to have been a part of this project, and look forward to wood firing this new kiln in the spring.
The picture is of the first chamber of two chambers.
Sorry to have been away so long, it's good to be back.

~Cheers
Make good pots!!
~Craig