Pottery Excursion

Today we had a day off from school because of the school music festival on Sat. So Rachelled wanted to take an excursion, and because Amanda had shown an interest in making pottery we took a short trip to Mashiko and here are the two of them making their pottery.


Rach was actually very proficient whe spun out about 12 pieces!! She just kept making them and they kept adding on clay. She kept about 7 of them. Well see how they turn out in a couple of months.

Another interesting place in Mashiko is this old dying house. It is in an old thatched roof house and the guy was actually working today and had actually been doing a lot of work as you can to see by all the thread that was hanging to dry. We didn't stay too long because after doing a pottery experience and eating lunch there was little time left for shopping.

At the store right next to this place Amanda bought a really nice set of white tea cups, they felt really nice to hold and they were simple and elegant at the same time. I was interested in a similar coffee cup but held back. I don't have room for the ones that I have.
We did spend a long time in another old shop in a huge old house. I have been in there several times before but the woman of the shop was very talkative and showed us around, took us in to the work area and showed us some other things that we wouldn't have normally seen. She also explaned to us about the distictiveness of Mashiko pottery and basically what they were selling there were the traditional pieces, all daily use items and traditional colors and almost everything hand spun and fired in the noborigama using wood and not gas like most of the places do now to save money. To be honest the pieces most were not that elegant or artsy but they showed history and the family pride of 6 generations that have gone into the development of this homes pottery. I hope they have many more generations to follow, but to be honest unless they don't change they probably won't be around for that much longer. But for just a family run business they sure had a lot of pieces and they were all made there on the spot, most of the other stores are just the outlets to sell other kilns pottery.