Sometimes amazing, Sometimes a culture shock but always a ceramics adventure I have just come home from 22 of the most amazing days and nights in Jingdezhen China – the home of porcelain. http://www.potteryworkshop.org/blog/?p=1033 The Sculpture Factory and the Pottery Workshop is an amazing place filled with Masters specializing in mould making, modelling, glazing and more. In the Education Centre we had lessons on Fencai, Zhisha teapot making, carving, QingBai Blue and White, mould making and so much more.

Zisha Teapot making was an experience – all by hand – no moulds – It takes 3 years to learn to be an expert teapot maker.

Eric, Eva, Summer, Seven, Emily and Lily seemed to make our trip flow with ease and did a great job translating for us. Language barriers disappeared with smiles and lots of pointing and charades with the locals.

Eric Kao http://www.erickaoceramics.blogspot.com.au/ is an amazing host and took us behind the scenes to some of the factories and studios hidden in back alleys and winding through streets around Jingdezhen. With insights and knowledge only someone with the dual heritage of being Chinese but being raised in the United States and having an intricate knowledge of clay and a ceramic artist in his own right, Eric is the perfect host.

Carving on big pots – Amazing

There are too many pictures, too many stories to convey the adventure both ceramic and cultural that I went on – but as we sweep away the firecrackers of celebration of a journey worth travelling I hope each and every one of you gets to experience their own ceramic journey of a lifetime.

and speaking of ceramic journey’s its been 3 weeks since I checked out what everyone else is doing at Mud Colony – why not come with me for a virtual journey into the world of other potters at http://mudcolony.blogspot.com.au/

happy clay days everyone

Debby xxxx