Red Robe a sidehandle in the serie production

RED ROBE

the sidehandle in the serie production...does it look like a batch, series production? Well, I am already for some time trying to create pieces in lines, in a kind of series which can be repeated. As a studio potter and artist, I am finding a lot of joy in creativity, exploring new ideas, designs and techniques. But I am more and more finding also a high value in pieces which are tuned up, work well for their purpose and in certain contexts. And as such can be repeated, bringing consistency to you as a user and, at the same time, giving me a chance to really tune things up by repetition and the routine.

This "Red Robe" small boiling sidehandle is one of those "well proven" products. Aside from making a few over the past year for my dear customers, I also keep one in our personal use. And this piece became quite quickly one of the most used pots (from many:)). Even after more than a year of regular use, I am so happy with its function in my tea practise. So what is so good about it?

-perfect size for one-two people daily drinking, in 350-370ml

-easy to travel with

-simple coloring, shape and surface which fits to various settings and occasions

And last but not least: It is made of clay suitable for boiling. Which means that after a few rounds of my morning tea, it quite often ends up on the stove to boil the leaves directly in the pot. If you like boiled tea as much as I do, you understand the beauty of this feature.

My ideal dream would be to have a few of these always ready, always in stock for any of you who would like to enrich your tea life with such practical toll. I am not there yet, just a few were made and they sell quickly. But I am doing my best, the Red Robe is a good pot to have.

Left handed version

Thank you for reading

 

 Is there a "too beautiful" thing?

                    

"wow, that's just too beautiful" shoot one of my friends when seeing freshly fired pieces. A truly lovely description of the overwhelming experience and feelings. I believe there are not such things as a "too beautiful", "too good" "too tasty" "too wise" or "too pleasurable". But there are definitely limitations of our minds, limitations of how much of the "good" we are actually able to embrace and fully live thru. And I also believe that training ourselves in handling more of the good, more of the beauty of the life, is simply worthwhile effort.

Call for Entries- Pottery Design Competition and Exhibition, 2016

For all teaware artists out there...

Call for Entries for the 6th Taiwan International Gold Teapot Prizes
Pottery Design Competition and Exhibition, 2016

Being asked to spread a word, I would like to share an interesting opportunity. It is for all colleagues potters who would like to participate in teapot exhibition on Taiwan. Both functional and sculptural entries are accepted, the event is hold during October 2016 in Ceramic Museum in Yingge 

( for all teaware lovers: Yingge is one of the "have to see" places on Taiwan !!) 

For all details, please visit this page. If you would like to participate and you will have any troubles with your entry, contact me at keramikakcajiATgmail.com, I will try to help!

I was happy to participate on this event during 2014. Bellow you can see few pictures from the opening ceremony day from October 2014...

Big thanks to dear friend TheJadeLeaf for taking those pictures for me there! 

Thank you for reading!

Charcoal fire serie, episode #4

This is another contribution to long lasting discussion on using charcoal fire as traditional source of heat for boiling tea water. Main points were probably already said in my old articles on this blog, but there are few new things I would like to share. For those who haven't had a chance to read the original texts, you can follow these links:

Part #1
Part #2
Part #3

I would like to start with a suggestion. I would like recommend to anyone who is using charcoal fire, or is thinking about going to this direction, read Issue 43, August 2015 of Global Tea Hut magazine. Main topic of the August issue was Fire, "The Teacher of Tea" There are many things to think about, to try, many interesting information and teachings. Of course, I would also strongly recommend to go and subscribe. It is really nice to have such magazine in hands every month. For many reasons. The community of supporters is growing and the magazine is growing with it. If you have not subscribe yet, or you missed some older issues, than you can read past issues online and for free (with some small and intelligible delay).

The Magazine traveled a big journey since I recieved it for the first time...

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Another thing, which can make whole experience much easier for you, charcoal devotee are any informations where to source good, high quality charcoal. I have not colected any long list yet, good charcoal is not easy to find these days. ( I welcome any tips for all reading this blog in the comments section !!!). But at least, I can share two sources of good charcoal right now:

- If the Big Apple is not across an ocean, you might want to try original Japanese Binchotan charcoal from Korin. It is not cheap but the quality is really high, they have different grades and styles and if you don't have to pay an expensive shipping, then it is definitely worth to try.

This how Binchotan Aramaru looks at our porch. It is much heavier and more dense then any charcoal I had before...

- And now good news for us, European. There is good quality accessible charcoal around! Thanks to good friend, I get a chance to try this new charcoal and fall in love instantly. Made in Austria, I can almost call it local (...local supermarket as the second option is much less local ) It si family business making charcoal in tradition way. They are even applicants to become UNESCO heritage with their way of burning charcoal. Here iscool video about the procces .

Austrian and the left, Japanesse on the right...

I am not going to give you a long talk about it, but compare to all other stuff I could buy around, this wins in all requiements. Cleaner, smokeless (if dry!), nicer, last longer. The only "flaw" is that it is not so easy to light up compared to softwood charcoal from supermarket. It needs more attention, but I get use to it and I am never going back. If you are interested here are their products
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Last thing I would like to share today is my shift in the whole "how to light up" question. Last year I started experimenting with charcoal lighters. Our kitchen electric glass stove does not like do this dirty work so much...And later I actually found out that, when you use the right charcoal lighter in the right way, it works even better. Of course, we are not going to use any heavy-chemical lighters for our tea fire. But still, when using charcoal lighter, do it outside - charcoal, before it is on fire, smokes. Sometimes a lot (remember: cleaner lighter and drier charcoal means less smoke!)


You can see three different charcoal lighters here. The middle man is the worst one, wood chips mixed with a lot of paraffin. It works but does not light so well and smoke is heavier. The right side one would be my second choice (even that looks really cool), and the left one is my favorite. Very fine mixture of wood chips, paper and a bit of paraffin.

Here you can see few pictures from yesterday fire party. I use my stopwatch to see how much time I actually usually need...

After two-three minutes I start to carefully load charcoal around the fire...

...filling the whole basket. Pay attention to how you compose the pile, think about the fire...

...a couple of minutes it seems that I put out the fire, but after another minute smoke starts to show...

After ten more minutes fire is visible and smoke is almost down. It is better to wait few more minutes before you move it inside...

Whole lighting up took me around 16min, but I was attending it just for few minutes on the start. I have not tried to light up the Binchotan this way yet. And as it is much harder-dense charcoal, it can be problem. I will try and share later on...

Happy fire fellow charcoal lovers!

Thank you for the reading!