The 9th World Art Educators’ Workshop in Tokyo, Japan started in the evening with a first meeting for signing in and dinner. But before that we prepared for the coming days. Steve Tootell was the organizer of the workshop. The two Master Potters were Euan Craig and Kasakab ... Continue Reading
Masakazu Kusakabe-san and Marc Lancet gave a workshop together on Spetember 13 in Santa Clara at ClayPlanet. They wrote a book together about Japanese Wood-Fired Ceramics and built the Dancing Wood Fire Kiln at Solano College in California. Marc Lancet is the Director of the Dep ... Continue Reading
I like my little corners in my house in Japan. And a month ago I got some goddess statues from Kusakabe-san. Just beautiful! A goddess statue in the hallway before you enter our main room on the 3rd floor with a little wood fired vase, fired in Euan’s kiln. On a small she ... Continue Reading
The weekend before I would leave Japan again, my husband and I went to Kusakabe-san, who lives in Miharu. This means “three spring”: the plum- “ume”, the peach- “momo” and cherry “sakura” blossom. The sakura was about to come out an ... Continue Reading
And now some results from the Sasukenei Smokeless kiln. My little pots were put any where in the kiln for certain fire/yohen effects. On this little Clover vase you see the fly ash deposits making a glaze on one side and on the other side the vitrification and starting of a glaz ... Continue Reading
Kusakabe-san, Euan and Wali gave a throwing demonstration during the workshop. “Play and do what feels good” “Use anything to shape your pots.” “Give a happy feeling to the pot”. Wali throwing nice and smooth bowls. Throwing of ... Continue Reading
Wood-firing is a choice today with all the other possibilities of electric, gas, oil kilns etc. Wood-firing takes a lot of labor for nights and days. People who get into this will do this for the rest of their lives, because the pieces have an extraordinary beauty.Wood firing is ... Continue Reading
I just received some pictures from Steve Tootell of the finished kilns. Look at the steel frame work around the kilns and chimneys for support during the heat expansion of a firing. Euan’s kiln. Kusakabe-san’s kiln. Continue Reading
The building of the kilns progresses incredibly fast. The walls are finished and the arch will rest on it. Here the inner layer of insulating fire brick is being laid. The arch is being build. In a very precise manner with different sizes. Still only one row left and working ... Continue Reading
They worked hard today and even started to build the arch of Kusakabe-san’s kiln. In the afternoon, the damper was in the chimney and the walls were already well above the grates of the fire box. They had put a tarp over it in the evening and I couldn’t see the kiln ... Continue Reading
