When you look at Japanese tableware and pottery made by artists, if you look closely, you can feel the different expressions of each piece.
The iron powder was scattered like a mole, The painting was a little faded.
Even if the same plate is made by one artist, each plate has a slightly different taste.
However, this is the characteristic and charm of handmade pottery that cannot be found in mass-produced products.
Here, we will introduce the characteristics that are often seen in such containers.
Penetration
Cracks that look like patterns on the surface of ceramics are called penetrations.
Basically, pottery is made by applying a glaze to the base (soil) and putting it in a kiln.
At that time, the glaze melts and forms a glass-like layer that covers the base.
The temperature of the pottery itself decreases after it is fired, but the degree of shrinkage at that time is different between the base material and glaze, so if this difference is large, The glaze will become crack-like and harden.
This is penetration.
This is different from cracks that occur when the base material breaks, so it will not leak or crack, so you can use it with confidence.
The one in the photo has intrusions as a pattern.
On the other hand, penetration may occur naturally as you continue to use the pottery.
This is caused by the warm food that enters the container, which causes the soil to expand.
Earthware vessels (pottery) have coarse particles and a high expansion rate, so they tend to be easily penetrated.
The color of oil and food stains the penetrations, so the appearance of the utensils will change as you use them, but this is the characteristic of handmade utensils. You can say that.
It may feel similar to the discoloration of jeans.
By using it more and more, you can enjoy growing it into your own unique pottery.
Pinhole
Organic substances (such as dust) that remain on the base material during bisque firing may remain as small holes after firing.
*This is the black dot near the handle in the photo.
This is also one of the expressions created by the handmade process.
Iron powder
When firing pottery, the iron originally contained in the clay becomes oxidized as it is fired in the kiln, forming black spots on the surface of the pottery.
The state that appears is iron powder.
This is often seen in artists who use coarse soil that tends to generate iron powder, and who value the texture and texture of the soil itself.
By the way, in the case of mass-produced pottery, we use clay from which the iron content has been removed through refining at the clay stage, so there is not much iron powder.
Uneven glaze
The glaze is carefully applied one by one by hand.
As a result, the glaze may not be applied uniformly, but this does not affect the quality.
The traces of glaze flow and glaze pools have been viewed as the ``scenery'' of pottery for a long time.
Bleeding, blurring
Inka (a technique of stamping a mold onto a work to create a pattern), Inhante (a method of stamping a rubber stamp with paint, etc.), sometsuke, etc.
Utsuwa Refers to the bleeding or blurring that occurs when applying patterns or paintings to objects, due to factors such as the amount of force applied during work and factors during firing.
If there is some blurring or shading, sometimes the expression of the vessel will be richer, so it is often done on purpose.
Gohonte
Kinari Rim 5.5 size plate Pottery Furuya Seisho
The light pink spots like the one in the image are called honte.
This pink color is not due to the pigments in the paint or glaze, but is a phenomenon that appears due to reduction firing.
The origin of the name Gohonte (gohonte) comes from the Goryeo tea bowl (a tea bowl with red spots) that was very popular in Japan from the Azuchi-Momoyama period to the early Edo period.
It seems that it comes from being a role model.
Patterns are not something you can aim for; No two pieces are the same, so it becomes the uniqueness of the pottery.
The pottery produced by human hands in this way is affected by both internal factors (soil conditions and changes in the kiln) and external factors (temperature, humidity, etc.
various changes occur on the surface of the container.
Through the features introduced here, Utsuwa is a one-of-a-kind, unique vessel, so people in Japan have been enjoying the ``characteristic characteristics of Utsuwa'' since ancient times.
Once you have a handmade pottery in your hands, it's fun to take a close look at it and see what kind of characteristics it has.
Here is the link to the UTSUWABI website