Nearly Christmas...but....here's some exciting news!

I had to share some exciting news about a future exhibition in Japan, which I 've alluded to over recent months.The finer details have now all been confirmed. In March I'm exhibiting work in the home of "Raku" itself....Kyoto. A beautiful city- where the Raku family dynasty first began making those humble little teabowls centuries ago.

Humbling an experience it is for me, I must say! To think that my "Western style" slab constructed Raku ware is going back to the land of it's origin- is pretty incredible. I think for Potters- that must rank as one to cross off the "bucket-list!"

This time they will be exhibited at Gallery Jarfo in Kyoto city during March 2014 as part of the EWAAC UK JAPAN cultural exchange. I feel very honoured and excited to have been selected.

More on this next year! But in the meantime-a very Merry Christmas and thanks for reading!

Gallery Jarfo- Kyoto, Japan

Beautiful Kyoto City - mixing the ancient and the modern

Comments

Making and firing Raku tiles

I have just had in one or two orders and enquiries concerning Raku tiles. Making them can drive you to despair- what with their tendancy to warp, crack and shrink! It's amazing how something so simple is in actual fact so hard to make. It's also very difficult to lift a flat object out of the kiln with tongs from a red hot kiln. Well, with some prior experience, I've developed a firing system for tiles now which is now working pretty well. Quite simply, I lay each tile on a flat bed of ceramic fibre. That way each tile is raised slightly off the kiln shelf- and it's then easy to grasp the tile with tongs and drop into your reduction chamber/smoking bin. I stack two or three kiln shelves and can pack in about 20 tiles in one batch - depending on size. I do let the kiln cool slightly before carefully removing each shelf of tiles. I back off the gas- get each shelf of tiles out- then power back up to temperature and repeat till they're all safely ...

Early days with volcanic and crater glaze part 2....

I glazed a couple of volcanic/crater glaze tapered bowls recently. They almost "half" work- but I'm still not convinced I've got it right- although it's promising. I layered combinations of glaze but I'm having a slight problem with the thick layers of silicon carbide glaze crawling. Sticky fingers maybe? Lots more to come over the next few months, probably with the next recipe- Pinnel Strontium Crater - with a variety of glaze stain additions . It's a pretty reliable recipe so fingers crossed.

Mo Jupp

My connection to Mo was as a student at Middlesex University in the dog days of the ceramics course during the 90's. He was my personal tutor for four years. Diminutive of stature and blinking in the funny way he did, we all came to love him as a tutor. Middlesex then, had a reputation for slip casting and mold making, and I was awful at both! Instead I had more of an interest in sculpture rather than functional tableware. Mo seemed to take an interest in my progress. He was very perceptive of individual students' abilities and offered guidance without ever dominating the discussion. He could be critical of course, but in such a way that was constructive and not "dead ended." At times he played down his reputation ,when we first year students twigged what a great artist he really was. He simply claimed that he was a big fish in a small pond unlike his heroes - Giacometti or Modigliani. Modestly he said his income nearly all came from teachi...

Shaun Hall's Raku Ceramics Blogspot

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