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THE STORY 24 FALL WINTER

Velvet Walls

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Driving through the mountain roads of Karatsu, I came across a slightly white sandstone cliff. The rock face was covered with small plants, vines, and moss, making it blend into the landscape so seamlessly that, without someone telling me, I might have overlooked it.

While straining my eyes to catch a glimpse of the exposed rock surface, I could imagine the scenery from 400 years ago of artisans gathering raw materials for pottery amidst the lush greenery.

During breaks in button-making at Yano-san’s Tonoyama kiln, I looked forward to tea time in the adjacent exhibition room. I enjoyed seeing and touching Yano-san’s pottery and the ancient ceramics he had collected, drinking tea from them while listening to his stories.
The conversation turned to the various types of Karatsu; ancient Karatsu, black Karatsu, madara Karatsu, okugorai and Korean Karatsu. How the surfaces of pottery seemed to capture the very essence of the mountainous landscape. Marveling at how the textures, which were likely the result of nature’s randomness, must have amazed people when such unique pieces first emerged from the kiln.

Inspired from the pottery, I decided to brush the cotton velour, dyed unevenly to express the moss-covered rock faces.
The base dyeing of the fabric completed, it is tightly packed into a net for further dyeing. Pinch the fabric at points the design is desired and stuff it into the net. To achieve a balanced mottled effect, consistent pressure is applied and the fabric packed evenly. Even so, the fabric tends to stretch and loosen inside the dye pot, so when packed into the net, the fabric is slightly twisted. The base fabric is dyed and then partially bleached before additional colors are applied. Through several dyeing processes, lines resembling cracks found in rocks or creeping vines are added by hand to the fabric.
The lines of glaze flowing over the pottery surfaces resemble the vines creeping over the mountain’s surface. “When working on the fabric, I have to be careful not to step on the lines I’ve drawn.” The artisan laughs.

When I asked Yano-san how he achieved such beautiful colors while admiring a tea bowl with a stunning glaze, he explained that with 3% iron content in the glaze, it results in celadon; with 5%, it becomes brown; and with 8%, it results in black. Gifts from nature are truly mysterious. It fascinates me how a small variation in the iron content from nature can transform the colour from a pale hue to a deep black. It came with no surprise to realise that achieving such colours and textures requires extensive skill and training. Whether in pottery or dyeing, I imagined people in the past pondering how to recreate the beauty of their surroundings in their art.