Sale Day and Beth Update.

Today was the sale day.  This is a picture of the setup from above.  It was booming in the morning, but the afternoon slowed a bit.  Overall I would say it was a success.  It will go on tomorrow morning as well.

This is one of the rabbits Beth has been working on.  She is doing a series of 5 or so of these babies.  I thought this one was so cool I just had to post it.  Her work has so much personality, and attitude.

The above view.  Really great texture.

Happy Birthday Joan!

This is a cotton candy maker we saw on the way to the restaurant for the party.  The place was decided on by Dorothy, and Rick purchased the cake.  The fun that I had with all of my chinese friends that night cannot be expressed in a mere blog.  I had a blast and I know Joan did as well.

She recieved so many cool gifts.  Look what our painting teacher made for her?  She made a huge paper cut for her with her name in it as well as fish and monkeys.  can you spot them all in this picture?

She also received this awesome wood cut from our history professor.  I was actually a little jealous.  He said he bought it out in country.  It smelled fresh cut and green.    

These are the guests present minus myself, Rick, and Lily.  Rick and Lily are pictured above.

Of course there was an awesome cake.  Those candles burn down pretty fast, but still left time for Joan to blow them out.  Loads of waxy chocolate and fresh fruit in there.  This may be the funnest meal I have eaten since I have been here.  So many language barriers present that we were all miming to one another and laughing hard about it.  It was a blast!  Good food, good conversation, and great friends.   What more could you ask for?

Underglaze Decal Factory

We finally found the right factory for the decals.  These are underglaze decals made from cobalt oxide and maybe manganese to make the color darker in some cases.  They wet the oxide down until it is a slip-ish consistency and smeer it into a steel mold type thing.  The mold has a very thin carving design of the decal on it.  Once the oxide is pressed in and excess is scraped away a piece of thin paper like tracing paper is placed over it and pressed onto the top of the mold with a large roller.  Then the paper is peeled away with the oxide design on it.  All you have to do in order to transfer it to a pot is apply it just like a temporary tattoo with water.  These things are pretty cool and super cheap so I bought a few sheets with dragons and things on them so I can make china gifts for people when I get home.    

Joans Birthday Message

Joans birthday is on the 19th of December, but she decided to advertise it being December 1st so she could share it with her chinese friends.  Today she received two of the sweetest letters I have ever read.  One being from James who wrote about how he hoped her birthday was so great.  You can really tell how much he cares for her because it took some work for this chinese boy to write a whole letter in english.  The second letter is from my indonesian neighbor who spent all afternoon making her a flute and writing a letter for her.  She talked about how it did not cost much money for the gift but it was more special because she spent time making it for her.  it was such a sweet thought.  The Chinese people here are so kind and thoughtful to people.  We can certainly stand to learn from people who do not have the many luxuries luxuries we do as Americans or Britans or whomever is reading this blog.  

First Day of December

Today was cleanup day in the studio.  Everyone worked hard to get thier areas clean for the pottery sale on Wednesday.  

This is my studio space all empty and abandoned.  I was done cleaning my area before lunch so I was able to enjoy the rest of the day outside exploring and doing some last minute porcelain shopping for Christmas gifts.

I took Joan out to lunch today at Mr. Woo's.  We had fried rice, sliced pork, and eggplant.  I cannot express how great the food is here when it is done well like this.  I ate until I thought I was going to pop!  This whole meal for two cost the equivalent of 3 USD.  Now that is a meal I can get used to.

As a matter of fact when I left the restaurant satisfied I was thinking how much I will miss real Chinese food.  I love me some down home sweet BBQ, but I think I will miss the food here more than I think.  mmmmmmmm good eggplant.

Ash Pit Tea Bowl

This is one of my tea bowls that fell into the ash pit.  It was one of the little series of 6 I did with loop trailing on them.  I think this guy turned out pretty sweet with the little bit of flash and the ash giving it some texture to go along with the trailing texture.  It is sometimes hard for buyers to understand a piece like this one unless they have a good understanding for wood firing and what it is all about.  Nic Collins makes his pots with loads of texture on them and when I was in Wales I asked him; "Don't people ever pick up one of your pots and ask how you would drink out of it without slicing your hands to ribbons?".  He responded by saying that those kinds of people are not the people who he wants to buy his pots.  If they don't like it then they just wont buy it.  He did not act like he had much of a problem with it either. He has a great artist statement here about wood firing along with an upcoming online exhibition that is pretty sweet.  I have been checking it out thanks to Doug posting it and found it pretty entertaining.  

Walk near school

My dad requested I take a video of what it is like walking down the sidewalk here.  This is not some of the craziest sidewalk things I have seen here, but it gives you an idea.  I have seen quite a few accidents, people walking buffalos down the street, women holding their babies over trash cans to poop.  You name it and I may have seen it here.  I only wish I could capture all of the smells.  Their is so much to hit the nostrils here it is overwhelming.  Enjoy the video!