Seto City/ Pottery Supply Run

My Pottery Sensei took me to Seto City yesterday to pick up some pottery supplies: clay, tools, and glazes. It was only about a 2 hour drive from Takayama. Seto City is the ceramic capital of Japan. It was one of the original places that pottery traditions had migrated to from China a millennia or so ago.

We stopped by a clay warehouse and filled up the back of the car with a few hundred pounds of clay.

Then, we visited a massive 90 year old kiln, with 4 levels- it takes about 2 weeks to do a firing! The studio that the kiln is apart of is still in full operation. It is entirely water powered; a mill in the back of the huge room turns and powers all of the wheels with an ingenius underground mechanism (If you look in the photo, the gears and mechanics are hidden under the wooden panels on the floor), as well as a grinder and a wedging machine.

We pulled over on the side of a road to collect some special gravel directly from the side of a rock wall! The special rock is called Shino, and can be crushed down and used in a bunch of different glaze recipes.

Here's the full collection of supplies: Shigaraki, Bizen, and pure Porcelain clay, matte black glaze, a beautiful metallic silver over-glaze, and several small tools and brushes. Can't wait to get started!