San Francisco

We took the public transportation in San Francisco, BART, cable car, Cal train, buses, street car and cab. Public transportation was very established, and waiting is within 10 minutes.

We found the all you can eat shabu-shabu restaurant, Zabu Zabu,
in Berkley. Service was good as well as the quality of meet. I once consider opening the Shubu-shabu restaurant, and decided against the idea because of fear for the liabilities. Restaurant was full, everyone seems no problem handling the boiling pot. The boiling pot was placed in a tabs placed middle of the table, so it will catch any spilling. We ate until really got full.

Downtown San Francisco has so many stores, which I do not recall thirty years ago. But, that was the first place I landed in US, and was just worried about everything around me, including everyone speaking English. So my memory was not clear.

Oh, about the collage tours.  Lots, lots of walking. Very informative. Compared to Japanese collage, some are very similar, some are so much different.  Each collage has its unique character of the students and the environment. I can see the very rich learning environment.

I was surprised so many flight was oversold, and asking for volunteers. I guess their computer system does not know how to count or something.  I had a chance to get at least three free transferable round trip tickets. We over-heard flight attendant complaining the heavy load of carry-on baggages. Of course, they charge $15 for first 50LB and $50 for over 50LB, everyone carrying heavy items with them, and ask the flight attendance to help.  Boarding takes more time as well....

Los Angels

We went Los Angels and San Francisco for the collage campus tours last week. Both cities were my memorable cities thirty years ago when I was the collage student. Went back there with family and even looking for the daughter’s collage . I never thought this is going to happen thirty years ago.



We heard about the bad traffic in Los Angles many times. Yes, there were many traffic jams, but we were able to pass through “through lane”. The way people drive was more mature, not changing lines very so minutes, so it was not bad. We might have more rough drivers here in Rochester, NY. We brought the GPS with us, which was a lifesaver. It took while to get the satellite reception, we heard that the near LAX airport was usually bad. Just needed was turn the GPS on and off several times.
I got lots of used Japanese books and snacks, and ate good Japanese food. I knew there was Little Tokyo, but I was surprised so many Japanese stores even outskirts of Los Angels.


We liked the Griffith Observatory very much. It has many exhibits, and was filmed in many movies such as the Charles Angle. We stayed until night, so we can see the stars with their huge telescopes, saw the actual Saturn’s ring first time as well as Orion’s cloud with four baby stars. The night cityscape of Los Angels was amazing as well.

Unfortunately we did not have time for pottery this time.

Testing the mold

Mold has dried enough to use. Here is a test. I forgot to take pictures of making the platter. Next time.





Comparison of two platters.

Making a mold

Today I made a mold for a special order platter. I could just make one without the mold, but this size is the good medium size oval platter between my 15" and 22" oval platters.

First I made a model (platter) with a slab of clay and shaped its wall placing a coil of clay underneath according to the paper template I made. Then, weigh the water and the plaster (#1 potter's plaster) at 70:100 ratio. Always pour the plaster into the water, then stir for 5 minutes. I poured the plaster mix into the model, and placed a wood block on its top. Wood block has two nails (screws) to anchor into the plaster. This wood block gives the mold the height, so I can easily trim excess clay from underneath. Waited for 20 minutes, and flipped over and removed the master. Then shaped the edges with the surform shaver. Let it dry for a couple days before using it.

Rice bowl 2

We had another snow overnight. This is the perfect timing! (I wish the warm weather is here, though.)

The design of the turquoise rice bowl is somewhat different from the most of my bowls. I had an image of the spring garden in snow or remaining snow at a high mountain in the early summer. I probably started glazing this way in winter, wishing then spring. Cook rice is hot to serve, not cold; there is some fault to my idea. Ha, ha... One of design came out with what I intended.

Rice bowl

Rice bowls. There are two sizes, small (5”diameter and 2” high ),and large, in Japan. We call the small one, “rice bowl / meshichawan” and serve just the rice, and refilled as wish. Bigger one is called “donburi”, and the rice often covered with the main dish, such as tempura, tonkatsu (pork cutlet), beef with some source, called tendon, katsudon, gyudon, respectively. Of course, for the bigger appetite, the donburi serves just white rice.

Japanese holds the rice bowl up in the air while eating, which is considered polite way to eat. When I was a kid, if I did not , I was yelled at “do not eat like a dog”. I know different culture has its own way of eating. Rice is the most important part of the Japanese culture. Rice served like the gold standard in Edo era (1603-1867). The local government was measured how much white rice in stocks, like we used to back up our currency with the gold.

kiln unloaded

Opened the kiln yesterday. Overall good firing.

The test piece for the chun glaze was not what I hoped for. Now I need to look the hyper glaze for my old recipe. I am so disorganized.... I changed the clay to the whites stoneware, less iron content...

I am getting the acceptance for the shows, May and June are set. It would be challenge physically, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Buffalo. Maybe I can sneak in the Pirates baseball game in Pittsburgh.

5/29-31	100 American Craftsmen	Kenan Ceneter, Lockport, NY
6/5-7	Three Rivers Arts Festival	Pittsburgh, PA
6/13-14	Allentwon Outdoor Art Festival	Buffalo, NY	D95

Show schedule : http://www.hodakapottery.com/schedule/