Chris Clyburn on tue 28 oct 03
I had a friend show me a book on Korean pottery today and it had a very
interesting piece in it. It showed a pot that was thrown completely from the
inside without touching the outside. It created this great organic texture.
I had thought the book said the technique was called Nanban but researching
online has proved this may not be the case. We experimented and and came up
with a rather pitiful method of reproducing this technique by throwing with
almost no water and centering and shaping a ball of clay to the height we
needed then opening the body and bellying out with only the one hand on the
inside. We got the organic texture but lacked any real control on the form.
I was wondering if anyboday has any information on this technique (name,
method etc) as I find it really interesting but I can't seem to find any
info on how it is done, especially since I think I have the name wrong :-)
Any help would be appreciated.
Chris Clyburn
Lee Love on tue 28 oct 03
Hi Chris,
When I was first starting out, I read an article (don't know where
it came from) about a similar type of Korean throwing. I use a modified
version of this on most of the bottle, jars, tall vases (I call them
Shakuhachi vases, after the Zen flute) and the flasks/henko I throw. Soft
clay is essential.
The article illustrated coning up a narrow tower of clay, looking
a lot like the tall chucks I make for trimming yunomi. You don't hollow
it at all, but you make the height of the finished pot with this solid cone.
Next, you take a long enough throwing stick, a broom handle works
good to begin the inside hole, and you push it into the center of the cone
until it stops short of where you want the bottom to be. Leave it a
little thicker, because when you finish with the sides, you will want to
work it a bit to get the correct inside curve.
Next, a curved stick, an egote, is used to balloon the inside
out. Keep the neck small if you are throwing a bottle and push the egote
outward, starting at the bottom of the inside of the cone, and pulling it
upwards. As the form is ballooned out, it is thinned. You don't
have to touch the outside of the pot, but I usually do, using a metal rib.
I often paddle these forms with a textured or smooth paddle to
turn them into flatten bottles (henko.) I always blow into the form to
shape it from the inside. It makes the pots feel like they have the
breath life. They are formed by what they contain.
My favorite pots are Korean Yi dynasty pots. I stamp my pots
with the same kanji for Yi. Japanese pronounciation Ri and Chinese
pronounciation is Li or Lee.
I found this John Baymore article below, about using the
egote, on the web. John describes the way it is commonly used in Japan,
by throwing a hollow cylinder:
http://www.bigceramicstore.com/Information/tip14.htm
--
Lee In Mashiko, Japan
http://Mashiko.org
Web Log (click on recent date):
http://www.livejournal.com/users/togeika/calendar
Craig Dunn Clark on tue 28 oct 03
Chris, I don't know what he calls it but Randy Brodnax is quite gifted at
the technique that I believe you are describing. His work has taken off in
the past several years and he is doing workshops all over the country and in
other countries as well.
Craig Dunn Clark
619 East 11 1/2 st
Houston, Texas 77008
(713)861-2083
mudman@hal-pc.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Clyburn"
To:
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 1:01 AM
Subject: Throwing from the inside (Nanban?)
> I had a friend show me a book on Korean pottery today and it had a very
> interesting piece in it. It showed a pot that was thrown completely from
the
> inside without touching the outside. It created this great organic
texture.
> I had thought the book said the technique was called Nanban but
researching
> online has proved this may not be the case. We experimented and and came
up
> with a rather pitiful method of reproducing this technique by throwing
with
> almost no water and centering and shaping a ball of clay to the height we
> needed then opening the body and bellying out with only the one hand on
the
> inside. We got the organic texture but lacked any real control on the
form.
>
> I was wondering if anyboday has any information on this technique (name,
> method etc) as I find it really interesting but I can't seem to find any
> info on how it is done, especially since I think I have the name wrong :-)
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> Chris Clyburn
>
>
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> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
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melpots@pclink.com.
Brian O'Neill on tue 28 oct 03
Chris,
Didn't know it had an "official" name, but back when I was into insanely
light pots, I used to pull up the cylinder first (as you normally would)
and then stretch from the inside with a wooden rib. Without the
compression on the clay from ribbing the outside wall, you have to be
more careful about collapsing the pot. But with a hairdryer or torch,
you can firm up the base and wall and keep stretching to the limits of
your clay.
You can also incise (lightly) into the cylinder before stretching and
the marks you make will expand in interesting ways.
Like all things, it takes experimentation and practice. Will be
interested to see what others have done.
Regards,
Brian
Chris Clyburn wrote:
>
> I had a friend show me a book on Korean pottery today and it had a very
> interesting piece in it. It showed a pot that was thrown completely from the
> inside without touching the outside. It created this great organic texture.
> I had thought the book said the technique was called Nanban but researching
> online has proved this may not be the case. We experimented and and came up
> with a rather pitiful method of reproducing this technique by throwing with
> almost no water and centering and shaping a ball of clay to the height we
> needed then opening the body and bellying out with only the one hand on the
> inside. We got the organic texture but lacked any real control on the form.
>
> I was wondering if anyboday has any information on this technique (name,
> method etc) as I find it really interesting but I can't seem to find any
> info on how it is done, especially since I think I have the name wrong :-)
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> Chris Clyburn
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
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