Post 67 My Indian Adventure

I'm afraid blogging has taken a back seat for a couple of weeks. I've been away enjoying a little run around Rajasthan from Mumbai to Delhi. It was certainly a different sort of enjoyment from any other trip I've been on. Certainly more a case of 'isn't that amazing / surprising' rather than any pure enjoyment alternative. Coming home in one piece and healthy was an achivement in itself.

 

The best place to start is with a picture of a 10th C carving of Lord Ganesha, Hindu patron of the arts and sciences and lord of beginnings and obstacles - both placement and removal. He might be a good kiln god but I'm not sure about needing any new obstacles in my potting.

There were a few things of ceramic and bonsai interest on the trip and certainly much of decorative art. This post covers a visit to a small village pottery. Much of the more remote areas which are purely agricultural is a bit like the middle ages with mobile phones. People live and work close to the ground using their hands.

The potter we visited used a wheel which was a big flywheel that spun on a point pivot. He used a stick in a hole in the flywheel to get it spinning and then it operated like any other wheel, with the exception that because it used a point bearing it could take on a bit of an orbital action, resulting in the top of any work being turning in a tight circle rather than stable. This required a practiced skill to finish off the top of any vessel.

In this pipcture on the left you can see another wheel and pivot and the spinning stick. Indians work hard and long hours to survive. Our potter friend worked in this position for long periods and when he needed to reach something, he just sort of crabbed around on his haunches. My hips and knees screamed just watching him down there.

These spherical pots seemed to be the major product made. All very uniform in production and thin walled. The clay is earthenware and only fired to about 600C and no doubt had a half life of about 3 weeks. That's probably why there were so many potters in the business.

 The process started with the pots in the foreground being turned up on the wheel. Then the guy in the background gets to do his part. The white 'mould', which looks like a big egg shell is then used to support the pot while it is struck on the outside with a flat timber batter against a curved piece of stone held against the inner surface. Repeated hits and rotation turns out the spherical finished pot. Very clever. He could do about 20 a day but summer when the temperature gets close to 50 can't be good for productivity. I think they do it this way because the clay may not have the strength to turn with thin walls; labour is cheaper than almost anything.
 

Here are some recently fired pots. The kiln is a brick cylinder about 2m in diameter and 1.5 high. The dry pots are placed in the kiln and covered with a layer of broken pots, then fired with timber/coal. There is no stack or chimney so everyone close by gets to 'share' in the firing.

Brickmaking was another revelation and the subject of a post to come.

Post 66 Another pot

Hers's another high fired pot from my collection. It's very like the Tokoname one, a buff unglazed rectangular pot about 350 long. Like the Tokoname a good durable surface that comes clean and as quite impermeable. Once again just a damp wipe for the photo.

As you can see from this picture is has a bit of an arched curvatur

e which is a little more pronounced, but not so much to be a problem aesthetically.

Here is the makers chop. I'm not sure of its origin or what I paid for it. I think it is older than the Tokoname so at least 15 years in service. It has an interesting symbol next to the chop - again any ideas would be gratefully received. I am aware of a Japanese maker who uses a chop with that framed design but I wouldn't be surprised if it was higher end Chinese.

This close up shows the surface. The clay also has quite a bit of granularity. The 'window' relief pattern on the pot wall is not a great piece of workmanship, much like many of the finer details all over the pot, but wholistically from a distance an attractive and useful design.

Here is a detail of the footwork, adequately executed.
All in all not quite the workmanship of the Tokoname. It seems that time was more important than getting the best finish. The arched body could have been managed better, and probably suffered for the same reason. But time was put into some decoration and an attractive foot design. It has been competently executed and ticks of the boxes of timeless design, long term keeper potential and high fired impermeable clay body. This is one that will not be going onto the next society exhibition sale.
Another and final thought for the day is about keeping pot records. Most enthusiasts keep progression photos of their trees which is great to see where you come from. I've done that for years but didn't keep pot records - whatever information available about their source and cost - and now wish I had.

Post 65 Tokoname Pot

Last post I said we'd look at my Tokoname pots. Well I pretty sure one is. I've owned it for perhaps 15 years and it has been in service all that time. That shows how long I've been struggling with the pot problem. This is the most expensive pot I've ever bought and looking back I think I must have scored a Christmas bonus or the like. Easy come easy go. Buy on emotion and defend on logic; I guess I may have also just been keen to be a Tokoname owner.

This pot is an unglazed buff coloured rectangular pot about 360mm long. As in the last post the only cleaning of the pot I've done for the photograph is a wipe with a damp cloth.

As you can see from this and the next picture the surface really is as good as new. You just wouldn't imagine it's been out in the weather for 15 years. As you would expect from Tokoname it is clearly a high fired very impervious clay body fired to maturity. This is the unglazed surface standard to aspire to and it can only be achieved in Stoneware.

Other evidence of the high firing to maturity is the very slight arch the pot has taken up. This as I well know can occur during the vitrification transformation as the material becomes plastic, shrinks and closes up the spaces between the particles, ensurng impermeability.

This once again reinforces the Earthenware / Stoneware dichotomy. As another clear indicator when buying pots  - those that are absolutely square and flat and smooth will be highly likely to be low fired or heavily grogged and not fully vitrified. Do not shun pots that show a little dimensional imperfection as this is an indicator of material characteristics that will give you the better long term performance. The skilled maker can do various things to minimse these artifacts of vitrification, as he has with this pot, but if you look carefully you will always find the evidence, if it is there to be found.
Here is a more detailed shot of the corner of the pot. There is quite a bit of granularity in the clay which gives the surface a little texture.

Here is the underside with the original price tag on it and the chop. If anyone can precisely identifyy this please let me know. Just above the drainage hole you can see the word JAPAN impressed into the clay.

And from the underside a couple of shots of the feet. This is the first time I've really looked critically at them and got a bit of a surprise. I have to say that I'm a little underwhealmed. They look great from the viewing front but from under here they are a little less shipshape than I would now expect. I like to think that ALL the pot should be finished to the same high standard as the outsde; including the underside and inside.

That minor point aside I'm still pleased to own this pot. Aesthetically it wins and that impervious surface offers a pot ready to bring inside for tree display with no more than a wipeover with a damp cloth.
Acquiring bonsai pots is a bit like buying furniture. You can buy function very cheaply; but that's the furniture you often see on the footpath after a couple of years when there's a Council cleanup. I've heard it said many times that you should, when you can over time, buy a few high quality, timelessly designed, well built pieces that will last a lifetime, age gracefully but always look good and can be handed on to the next gereration. Good advice.