Chris Campbell Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 Autumn ... The season when we all look in our cupboards for the ingredients to make comfort food! Hearty soups, meatloaf ... mac'n'cheese. Or, we just want to hunker down with a hot cocoa and the things that make us happy. What about in your studio? What forms do you love to make ... which ones get you into a zen like happy place. Or is it something more than just making it? Is it the decorating? The glazing or the firing? Share your thoughts ... What is your favorite form to create? As always with any posts to the forum ... hit the ADD REPLY button at the top or the bottom of the page unless you want to quote an entire previous reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JBaymore Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 I'd have to say that, for me, it is Chawan, for actual Chanoyu use, because they are SO difficult to accomplish well and the percentage of them that actually "makes the grade" coming out of the kiln is so darn tiny. The process from preparing raw clay to finishing the fired works is terribly demanding and keeps me very humbled. How to create with intent, without the work being self-conscious? How to meet the many "rules" looked for by chajin without looking like you are trying to fit inside the "box"? How to decide if a particular piece is "good enough" to allow it to continue to exist AS a chawan? Guess it is kinda' "primal......... it is about "the hunt". best, ..................john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denice Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 Chris my favorite zen piece is the teapot, not only do all the pieces have to work it needs to look good. I'm glad you brought up this subject was was wondering what to work on when I got my studio reorganized and my kiln room finished I think teapots will get me going. Denice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pres Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 Autumn ... The season when we all look in our cupboards for the ingredients to make comfort food! Hearty soups, meatloaf ... mac'n'cheese. Or, we just want to hunker down with a hot cocoa and the things that make us happy. What about in your studio? What forms do you love to make ... which ones get you into a zen like happy place. Or is it something more than just making it? Is it the decorating? The glazing or the firing? Share your thoughts ... What is your favorite form to create? As always with any posts to the forum ... hit the ADD REPLY button at the top or the bottom of the page unless you want to quote an entire previous reply. I would have to say that for me the teapot gets me going. I don't know about zen place, think its too overdone by modern society. However, I resonate when throwing multiples of teapot pieces and then picking and choosing what goes with what. Assembly and decoration all make me pensive about the form. My problem is always getting to that certain point, and then to have to worry, and I do mean worry about glazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pres Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 I'd have to say that, for me, it is Chawan, for actual Chanoyu use, because they are SO difficult to accomplish well and the percentage of them that actually "makes the grade" coming out of the kiln is so darn tiny. The process from preparing raw clay to finishing the fired works is terribly demanding and keeps me very humbled. How to create with intent, without the work being self-conscious? How to meet the many "rules" looked for by chajin without looking like you are trying to fit inside the "box"? How to decide if a particular piece is "good enough" to allow it to continue to exist AS a chawan? Guess it is kinda' "primal......... it is about "the hunt". best, ..................john I would not even presume to make a chawan. Not being knowledgeable of so much of the aesthetic of the chawan or use, I will pass. I have often made sets of tea bowls for use with a particular teapot-nothing more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JBaymore Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 I would not even presume to make a chawan. Not being knowledgeable of so much of the aesthetic of the chawan or use, I will pass. I have often made sets of tea bowls for use with a particular teapot-nothing more. Pres, With 40+ years as a FT professional now, I have only JUST recently begun actually making Chawan intended for real Chanoyu use. As you alluded to, there are teabowls, and then there are Teabowls. Up until very recently, I did not feel that I had the skills or knowledege to even approach working toward that capital T type of vessel. A lot of study both here in the USA and over in Japan (as well as a lot of matcha) has gone into getting to that point for me. Very few potters that make teabowls really understand the context in which that form exists. And I continue to study this.... because I am still just a "babe in the woods". It is only in the last couple of years that I have PRESUMED to sell ANY Chawan in exhibitions in Japan. And it was with GREAT trepidation the first time I did it, and not much less of that every successive time. I have let one of my mentors over there set my Chawan prices. I use that number to help to guide me in how sucessful the pieces are felt to be by someone far more knowledgable on the subject than I. I will pursue this goal for the rest of my life. best, ...............john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pres Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 I would not even presume to make a chawan. Not being knowledgeable of so much of the aesthetic of the chawan or use, I will pass. I have often made sets of tea bowls for use with a particular teapot-nothing more. Pres, With 40+ years as a FT professional now, I have only JUST recently begun actually making Chawan intended for real Chanoyu use. As you alluded to, there are teabowls, and then there are Teabowls. Up until very recently, I did not feel that I had the skills or knowledege to even approach working toward that capital T type of vessel. A lot of study both here in the USA and over in Japan (as well as a lot of matcha) has gone into getting to that point for me. Very few potters that make teabowls really understand the context in which that form exists. And I continue to study this.... because I am still just a "babe in the woods". It is only in the last couple of years that I have PRESUMED to sell ANY Chawan in exhibitions in Japan. And it was with GREAT trepidation the first time I did it, and not much less of that every successive time. I have let one of my mentors over there set my Chawan prices. I use that number to help to guide me in how sucessful the pieces are felt to be by someone far more knowledgable on the subject than I. I will pursue this goal for the rest of my life. best, ...............john Interesting that of the National Treasures with so few of them being Chawan that only 3 are Japanese, most are Chinese and I think, not certain 1-2 Korean. Am I right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benhim Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 My favorite pieces to make are thrown and altered jars. I like the square ones, but inevitably my favorites are the ones squished into an oval that take on a slight figurative appearance with wider shoulders and a narrow foot and neck. The first one I made was just after my dad died, I made a memorial urn. It was made in a workshop I attended with a local potter named Patrick Horsley. He and Don Sprague both have taught me some techniques I used to make thrown and altered pieces. The zen part comes in when using the cutting and shaving tools to cut down the surface of the pot revealing the finished green product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devany Posted December 23, 2011 Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 For me it is these free formed platters that I make. I use porcelain and only about 50 % of them make it through high firing, there is a huge cracking rate even though I dry them very slowly. So, when one comes out perfectly, like this oyster platter I find great joy. Autumn ... The season when we all look in our cupboards for the ingredients to make comfort food! Hearty soups, meatloaf ... mac'n'cheese. Or, we just want to hunker down with a hot cocoa and the things that make us happy. What about in your studio? What forms do you love to make ... which ones get you into a zen like happy place. Or is it something more than just making it? Is it the decorating? The glazing or the firing? Share your thoughts ... What is your favorite form to create? As always with any posts to the forum ... hit the ADD REPLY button at the top or the bottom of the page unless you want to quote an entire previous reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teardrop Posted December 25, 2011 Report Share Posted December 25, 2011 6 months into all of this I found I've been consumed by a combo of teapots and water pitchers via slab construction. Definitely a learning experience all the way around for a newbie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 I like to throw bowls-all types-not my best seller just the most fun Salt pots come in a close second as they are not made for market-just for fun like this one made for my fence post top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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