exhibition

Rainy Season Is Here

A lot has happened over the last month since the Karatsu pottery festival, mostly cleaning, shelf building, and shifting things around in the studio in preparation for the open studio event which happened this last weekend from June 19th to June 21st.

In rough chronological order, here is what has happened in May:

Plates formed over wood slabs of various sizes

Paddled slab plates en masse...
Paddled slab plates en masse…

We got our garden planted and our first Jalapenos soon followed!

This year's small Jalapeno crop. Not many, but it's a start.
This year’s small Jalapeno crop. Not many, but it’s a start.

Another type of crop: Good batch of Madara Karatsu guinomi from late April firing. Body is mostly crushed sandstone with a bit of native low iron clay to help keep things together.

Madara Karatsu guinomi from spring gas firing.
Madara Karatsu guinomi from spring gas firing.

In prep for the open studio event, I cleaned the deck and brickwork of the backyard. I did not realize just how overgrown with algae and moss it had become until it was clean again.

The deck and bricks after being power washed. Almost like a new backyard.
The deck and bricks after being power washed. Almost like a new backyard.

One of the worst sections, but it felt really cathartic blasting all of that green away, leaving nice clean trails of clear, brown wood.

Before After pic of the deck, what a difference!
Before After pic of the deck, what a difference!

Entrance to the yard event space, tents and blue tarps up to  keep out the rain. Luckily, although it threatened a few times, it never really rained, and the last day was actually sunny and hot. This is  the middle of monsoon season folks, we totally lucked out.

Emeth and Shimauchi san's burgers. Best burgers in Nagasaki. Best burgers in Saga for 3 days only.
Emeth and Shimauchi san’s burgers. Best burgers in Nagasaki. Best burgers in Saga for 3 days only.

The spot for gamblers. 500 yen per turn, no losers. One grand prize, 15 second place prizes, 25 3rd place prizes, and 100 4th place prizes. One grand prize went out every single day of the 3 day event. Happy customers!

Pot lottery wheel. No losers here, everyone walks away with a pot, some better than others...
Pot lottery wheel. No losers here, everyone walks away with a pot, some better than others…

This discount table was a new strategy for me. Turned out to be great for turning older pots into cash and additional storage space in my studio showroom.

My discount table, holding everything I haven't sold in 6 years that I couldn't bear to hammer. I think about 300 of these pots found new homes.
My discount table, holding everything I haven’t sold in 6 years that I couldn’t bear to hammer. I think about 300 of these pots found new homes.

Knife and tool maker, really nice stuff for reasonable prices

Knives and tools from Matsubara forge, in Nagasaki.
Knives and tools from Matsubara forge, in Nagasaki.

Really big caterpillar!

A friend I discovered during the open studio event. Never seen one like this before.
A friend I discovered during the open studio event. Never seen one like this before.

Karatsu Show

This last weekend we had the show in Karatsu.  It was a 3 day weekend, so we did Sat, Sun, Mon. Well, if you are thinking about having a show on a 3 day weekend, let me give you a little advice: don’t. Everyone goes somewhere else. The first two days were absolutely empty, and it was only the during the last day that I was able to make some good sales. Thanks to guests from Osaka, Kyoto, and Chiba. I guess they were using the 3 day weekend to get out of their respective areas as well.

Well, lesson learned. Overall, it was still a very enjoyable experience, with lots of time to sit and chat with friends over tea. The highlight of the show was without a doubt, the shiboridashi teapot with the river crab knob. It is a pure silver crab holding a ruby in his right claw.

Tiny 5 artist show in Taku

The go-nin ten is a tiny 5 person show that is more of an afterthought to the annual lotus blossom viewing event that happens here in Taku. Strictly speaking, it is not much of a chance to sell pots, but it is nice to mingle with the locals and meet new people. Most people come through the area after seeing the blossoms, give the pots a sort of disinterested glance and pass right out again. The ones that do stay to look however, are a good chance at advertising my bigger show later this month. I keep a stack of mailer postcards for people to take.

There are  three other potters, and one jewelery maker exhibiting.

As we were settling in for the morning, getting ready for customers to come by, a HUGE box arrived by express carrier. This box was big, probably about 2x2x2 meters! Turned out to be the new town mascot costume. Since the town’s biggest attraction is the 300+ year old Confucian Temple, the Taku town mascot was voted to be Takuo, a big dude that looks like Confucius, a big Confucius who likes to run around and hug people a lot, and who has a fuzzy pink heart on his butt for people to rub.