Ceramics Tips

I talked to Ms. Lutter today about a problem I've been having regarding my tea bowls. Whenever I try to make my tea bowls (3 times so far...) I can center it perfectly but then as soon as I start to shape it, it becomes off-centered! Wah.

Ms. Lutter told me that probably happens because I make my holes to open up the clay off-centered. I think that's what I've been doing and I'm going to work on improving that! I guess that's why they say practice makes perfect.

忍耐
Nintai
Patience

Side note.. Here's a tea bowl I made a couple weeks ago (for ceramics class, not WISE)

"Out of the Rut"

PLANNING:

3 Things I Should Talk To My Mentor About-

1. How to complete my tea bowls by Thursday
2. What to talk about during my presentation
3. Steps on how to make the tea pot

Good thing I am meeting with Ms. Lutter on Wednesday and can ask her all my questions!!

質問
Shitsumon
Questions

First Time Is Not The Charm

So the fates decided that we were going to have school today.. Yay! (although I did not feel that excitement when I had to wake up at 7:30 this morning)

I went in today 8th period to Ms. Lutter's room to wheel-throw my first tea bowl. Only, I didn't end up making anything. Well, technically I did, but it didn't resemble a tea bowl in any way. Oops..

I think partly the clay was too soft to work with. It was easy to center but really hard to shape. Both of my attempts today ended up being thrown in the slop bucket because they became really off centered and the shape was disfigured.

I'm going to try and go in during second period sometime this week and (hopefully) finish my first tea bowl!

粘土
Nendo
Clay

Snow Day, Maybe?

As the snow trickles down pretty hard, part of me is wishing for a snow day (who ISN'T?!) and the other part of me hopes that we have school tomorrow! I know you all probably just gasped and asked yourselves why in the world I would want to have school instead of a snow day and my answer to that question is simple... So I can work on my WISE project!

Tuesdays are the only day that I can come in after school and start my tea bowls. If we don't have school tomorrow, I will be behind schedule on my progress! My goal was to start my tea bowls before spring break, which is in 2 weeks. I plan on doing one tomorrow (granted that we have school) and the other one next week. I just want to get those done and they should be easy, relatively speaking, because I've made them before.

I will let the fates decide on whether or not we have school tomorrow.... *que dramatic music*

雪
Yuki
Snow


Let it snow, let it snow, let it snoowwwww

WISE Class - Gleaning From The Past Reflection

I read Molly Chiang's WISE journal for the gleaning from the past assignment and her project was to restore the Cascadilla Boat House. Although, she wasn't successful in that, she did end up making a movie about the historical significance of the Boat House.

GEMS OF THE PROJECT:

1. Molly included a lot of research evidence such as pictures, emails, and notes from her meetings with community resources.
2. There was an obvious amount of dedication in Molly's project (she started in September!) She was extremely passionate about restoring the boat house, and even though she didn't, she definitely made a lot of progress working together with the city of Ithaca and CBC.

OOPS COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER:

1. There were times during Molly's project that she got frustrated when community members didn't reply back to her. Although that is completely normal, I think I need to not let that get to me and accept the fact that not everyone I contact will be willing/able to help me.
2. Honestly, there wasn't anything else that I would change about this project (except for maybe the handwriting!)

THINGS I WILL BORROW:

1. Molly used lists to organize her thoughts and feelings and it turned out to be a resourceful way for her to write down her opinions.
2. I love the way Molly set goals for herself every week, both long and short term. It made her more focused and I think that's something I will definitely need to start doing for my project. 

YouTube Videos

One of the people I emailed a couple weeks ago was Mark George, who was referred to me by Suzanne. He's an art teacher in Geneva and Suzanne told me that he built a tea set with his class last year. I reached out to him to ask if he could give me any advice and/or tips before I started and he just got back to me!

He sent me a bunch of really helpful YouTube videos that give a clear explanation of how to make each item of the tea set. Needless to say I just spent about an hour and a half watching YouTube videos.....

Please watch this video. It's so amazing/ unbelievable/ inspirational/ I'm jealous/ why can't I do that

鼓舞する
Kobu suru
Inspirational

Sick Day

Sadly, I woke up this morning with a killer migraine and didn't go to school. My tea cups will unfortunately have to wait until next Tuesday.

Well, I'm off to bed.... And yes I am well aware that it's only 8pm.

病人
Byōnin
Sick

Practice

Today in class we talked about hands on practice and how it benefits you. Everyone improves with more and more practice. I think everything for me right now is practice, in regards to my project, because I have only been wheel throwing for 5 weeks. I'm improving but I'm obviously not going to be part of any prestigious art gallery anytime soon.

I'm starting my tea cups tomorrow after school and it will probably take me a number of tries until I actually get them look like I want them to. But, hey, that's what practice is all about!

I went to the public library today to see if I could find "The Book Of Tea" that Mary Ellen had suggested but they didn't have it in at the moment. I'm going to see if I can stop by Barnes and Noble tomorrow and check there!

練習
Renshū
Practice

Ceramics Observation Reflection

So I just got back from my ceramics class observation (Mary Ellen Salmon in Trumansburg) and am so happy that I got to sit in on her class! The class was full of people from all different levels and it made me feel better about myself because I am beginner at wheel throwing too. There is so much that I don't know about ceramics and being in a different environment than our classroom at school was helpful. She recommended that I read "The Book of Tea" which is all about the Japanese tea ceremony, so I definitely need to stop by Barnes and Noble and get that this weekend.

I took some pictures of the artwork in her gallery (some is Mary Ellen's and some is made by other local potters) and will use them for creative inspiration also.

I love love LOVE the gradient here and definitely want to incorporate that in my tea set somehow.

 I think the flowers are a nice, classic touch to these cups and it would look good on my tea set.

The brown color here makes it look very authentic and traditional and that would look good for the tea set I have in mind. 

ホイールは投げる

Hoīru wa nageru

Wheel Throw

Post-Mentor Meeting

I met with Ms. Lutter today and we talked about when I would start my teacups. We worked out that Tuesdays after school would work and since I have 8th period free I can just come in and start working then. I'm really excited to get started and need to do some design research before then!

I've got a couple images so far that I will build off from.

I really like the classic white color of this and the contrasting red/black cherry blossoms.

I like the Japanese characters on this set and I definitely want to incorporate that somehow.

I love the gradient here and the shape of the tray.

写真
Shashin
Pictures

Slightly Unrelated but Still Exciting Post

I just learned how to do a headstand at yoga tonight and got really excited and made my mom take a picture of me.

Also, here's the song that we listen to right before savasana and I just love it (this is related still to WISE, right?)

Post-Meeting

I just got back from my meeting with Mizue. She was really sweet and told me all she knew about tea cermonies. I think I might want to learn how to perform a tea ceremony and do it for my presentation!

Mizue told me that she doesn't remember exactly how to do it but she attended one last year that was performed by a Cornell student. She's going to give me her contact information so hopefully I can attend a ceremony held by her and experience one first hand.

I'm going to watch a tea ceremony video online tomorrow so I can start to understand what really goes on.

It's yoga time now!

ビデオ

Bideo

Video

Barnsong Response and Other Shenanigans

Today in class we watched a WISE project about a WISE project.. very inception-like.
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and was extremely impressed by the kid that built the barn. It made me realize that I need to start to do more hands-on work on my project (maybe like actually start my tea set....) Barn boy (I don't know his name) was really dedicated to his project and kept working until it was fully completed, regardless of the fact that that was in August. It made me happy to see how invested and committed he was!

Tonight I'm meeting with Mizue Kido, who grew up in Japan and practiced the tea ceremony under her mother. I'm going to interview her about her life and her experience with tea ceremonies/living in Japan altogether. I will post either later tonight (after yoga!) about my meeting or tomorrow morning, promise!

Tomorrow I also have my mentor meeting with Ms. Lutter. I'm going to talk to her about starting my project and work out a time where I can come in and start my tea cups.

This week I'm also going to do some sketches of what I want my tea set to look like. Ms. G asked me whether I want my tea set to be traditional or if I want to add my own spin on it and I decided that I'd like it to be traditional and authentic. I sent an email to a Johnson Musuem of Art employee but they haven't gotten back to me so I think I'm going to call them tomorrow and ask if they have any Japanese art collections that I can look at for inspiration. I'm going to NYC at the end of March with +Molly Pritz (Taylor Swift concert!!!!!!) and we're going to stop by the MET and look at some Japanese collections there as well. I just realized this is the first that Molly is hearing about this so I hope that's okay with you! XD

Wow, this was a really long post I apologize. I just had a lot to say!

茶
Cha
Tea

Too Little Time

I've been at a volleyball tournament in Rochester since Friday so I haven't had much time to work on my project. I went on my Human Japanese app between games but its extremely doubtful that that will actually do anything for me.

Honestly, I can't wait to just get home and go to bed. Waking up at 6AM to play volleyball just doesn't work for me!

バレーボール
Barēbōru
Volleyball

Ceramics Observation!

Today I received another email back from Mary Ellen who owns Salmon Pottery in Trumansburg. She has agreed to let me come in and observe her ceramics class next Thursday! I'm really excited to get some more experience with clay outside out the classroom (although it will only be observing experience).

Short post today but more to come!

セラミックス
Seramikkusu
Ceramics