Shino Chawan

Chasing the class Toyozō Arakawa white and orange shino using minerals and clays available in the US and the gas-fired kiln in my studio, I have made many, many hundreds of experimental shino pots over the past two years. This pot is still not quite there, but it’s closer I think than any of my other attempts. What moved this one closer to the goal? I’ve begun to develop a synthetic Mogusa clay body, the clay found in Mino that shino chawan are typically thrown from. This clay is highly refractory, sandy, and contains relatively little iron. It trims roughly which provides lots of little nucleation sites for the classic shino pitting, fires to a soft buff color, and provides the canvas on which the orange flashing can develop. There’s still some work to be done on both the clay body and the glaze. You’ll notice that the pitting on this pot is barely present. But I’m getting close.