Chosen Karatsu 11/17/2020

bottle

Today I want to post the results and thoughts about the latest CG firing. This firing was more successful than the CG firing in March, but I’ve uncovered some other problems, namely uneven reduction. My first thoughts on troubleshooting this are:
1. possible leaking kiln door fiber seal?
2. open the shelf placement to promote more air circulation?
3. Check the burners on the over reducing side, and possibly adjust secondary air?
4. look inside the car to see if any airways are obstructed?

Next, a look at the before/afters, with special attention to the thickness and trimming of the rice straw ash glaze:

Next, the keepers:

Thoughts:

-The glaze thickness was about right, and the interior glaze thickness was about perfect.

-The firing was too hot in the top half of the kiln, resulting in most of the loss. Also, over-reduced areas exacerbated this issue.

-Perhaps both glazes are a bit too runny at cone 11 and need adjustment.

-The middle and upper rear right was VERY over reduced, this needs looking into. Multiple possible causes.

– Use shells on the feet even when not in doubt about drips. Much of the loss in this firing could have been avoided if there had been something between the bisquits and the pots.

Clay clay clay

When I was polishing work from the fall firing yesterday, I noticed two pieces that had been glazed, fired (on shells)glazed again, and fired again (on shells). This isn’t too unusual, but in the case of these two pieces, they were literally fired side by side both times and had the same glazes applied, twice.

The only difference between the pieces is the clay body. The teabowl is clay/sandstone 50/50, and the smaller cup is clay/sandstone 10/90.

Now probably it shouldn’t, but the difference in the fired glaze surface astounds me. And all other things being equal, it must be that 40% difference in clay content that has changed that glaze.

Since the glaze is collected, I don’t have an analysis, but my guess is that the higher alumina content in the higher clay body is responsible for making that high silica glaze go clear, by adding alumina to the glaze matrix and fluxing more of the silica.

Busy busy

The first abalone dish dried successfully, so today I started making more. I also started a small run of shiboridashi teapots. These are always good sellers, because they are easy to use and clean, with no hard to reach holes or metal sieves to collect grime. 



I always carve the grooves as early as possible, because as the clay gets harder, it becomes difficult to carve without tear out. Then I put the lids on, so that they dry evenly without warping, and after trimming they will go into the kiln to be fired together, to avoid any warping. 

Loading has begun

Loading of the first chamber began this morning. 
The stack starts at the bottom from back to front. This part of the firing process is very important because it determines where the fire and heat will go during the firing. A bad stack means you will have poor circulation and you’ve doomed the firing even before you’ve lit the fire. 

The bottom of the stack is pretty much done, and the ware from 9 ware boards got stacked in there, which is about 80 pots give or take a few. 

Let them eat cake

Here is my latest pot porn for you: freshly stamp milled, slaked, and filter pressed cakes of Izumiyama porcelain. 150kg. 


Not for the faint of heart, Izumiyama is hard to work with. It is non plastic and likes to crack during drying, impossible for slab work, and deforms easily. And it costs more than twice as much as Amakusa porcelain from Kumamoto. Most porcelain artists in Arita and Imari switched to using Amakusa porcelain long ago because it’s much easier to work with, doesn’t crack, and fires whiter. 


BUT! The beauty of Izumiyama in the wood kiln is absolutely undeniable. It fires to a soft ivory white and blushes in very subtle shades of peach. The surface is deep and translucent and vitrifies as low as around 1230C. 

Tomorrow morning first thing, Peter the Pugger will be getting a major workout!

Hunting white clay (not elephants)

There is an old story around here about Nakazato Muan (12th Generation Nakazato Tarouemon, Living National Treasure) finding a really great white clay seam in the Azambaru area of Taku.  Here it is in Japanese for those of you who can read it:

中里窯は昭和二十一年に石炭使用の角窯を薪用に改造して二十五年まで焼いた。
土は主に多久高麗古窯址近くの多久市北多久の荕(あざん)原(ばる)白土を胎土とした。
この土を見つけた時のエピソードが残っている。
掘り出した土を叺(かます)に詰めて荷車で重利が梶をとり、多久駅まで運ぶ途中下り坂に差し掛かった。
後押ししていた無庵は、下り坂でも押しまくった。はずみのついた車に重利はあわてて梶棒から飛びのいた。
車はそのまま道脇の田圃に突っ込み、荷車は壊れてしまった。
重利が驚いて怒鳴ると無庵は,
「この土で何を作ろうかと考えていたので下り坂に気付かなかった」と重利に謝った。
「親父が俺に謝ったのはあの時がはじめてだった」と重利はいう。

For those of you whose Japanese is a bit rusty, it goes like this:

In the year Showa 21 (1946), the Nakazato kiln was converted from a coal burning kiln to a wood burning kiln, and it was fired until Showa 25 (1950). During this time, Muan mostly used a white clay from the Azanbaru area of Taku.  There is a story, told by his son Shigetoshi, from the day they discovered this clay seam (Nakazato Shigetoshi passed away in 2015, at the age of 85, so he was probably around 16 years old at the time of this story).
So they have all this clay loaded onto a cart, which Shigetoshi is pulling and his father Muan is pushing, to Taku train station.
On the way, they reach a downward slope, and without noticing, Muan keeps pushing  down the slope, and they almost run into a car speeding down the road. Shigetoshi ends up diving to avoid the car, the car ends up in a rice field, and their cart ends up broken.  When Shigetoshi gets angry and starts yelling, Muan says “I was so busy thinking about what I was going to make with this clay, I didn’t notice the slope.”,  apologizing to Shigetoshi.
“That was the first time my father ever apologized to me.”, Shigetoshi commented.

So why, you say, are you telling me all of this? Well, the fabled white clay seam has been looked for now by other potters for decades with no luck, but due to a fortuitous event a few months ago (and several years of looking), I believe I have found it again. Here are some pictures from our excursion out to dig some sample material for testing.

This looks promising, with the moss scraped away.
This looks promising, with the moss scraped away.

 

Making some progress, this small hole yielded over 100kg of clay.
Making some progress, this small hole yielded over 100kg of clay.

 

Two partners today, one is my mentor, in the foreground, the other a friend and fellow artist.
Two partners today, one is my mentor, in the foreground, the other a friend and fellow artist.

 

Under better lighting. Isn't it gorgeous?
Under better lighting. Isn’t it gorgeous?

 

Oh, and lastly, here’s a picture of one of Nakazato Muan’s coil and paddle built jars. This one is made from white clay from the clay seam pictured above. My firing tests have almost the same color as the unglazed bottom section of this jar (although it is hard to see from this dark picture).

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