Preparing for CROC - Episode 2: Wheel Throwing and Painting

Hi, it’s Mirjam again,

The second shooting took place inside the studio.

For this day, we asked our friend Jérémie Paré-Julien, who works at Kouraku Kiln in Arita, if we could “borrow” some of her residents for a day. They kindly agreed, and for the first time we were able to teach a class with four students.

Although the main goal was to take photos, it was also a great opportunity to test our two new wheels and see whether the studio layout worked well for teaching.

Unfortunately, our friend Natsumi Fukuda couldn’t join us this time, so I had to take the photos myself.

We began with a basic but essential step: wedging the clay. Ken-sensei (sensei meaning teacher or master) showed the technique and asked everyone to try.

After a few attempts, the group decided to give up and use the vacuum pug mill instead.

Next, each student placed a chunk of clay on the wheel and learned how to center.

Once they got used to the movement, they started making rice bowls using the traditional tool nobe-bera.

After about two hours on the wheel, everyone was ready for lunch. But before that, they had to recycle their work — an important part of the learning process.

We prepared a simple pasta in our kitchen and spent some time talking about ceramics.

In the afternoon, I gave a short washizome class — a kind of printing technique using tissue paper.

At the end of the day, everyone told us they enjoyed the class and liked the studio space. It was a big relief for us to hear that.

Thank you again to everyone who joined and supported us.

To be continued.