Customer Reviews

Japanese Wood-Fired Ceramics

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First saw this book at the wood-fire conference held in Flagstaff, AZ in Oct,2006. The coauthor Marc Lancet delivered an address that was drawn in large measure from the book. After Jack Troy's classic on wood-fire this book sets a new standard. The wide variety of wood-fire surface effects are connected to the japanese names for those effects and what causes them. The sections covering plans for wood-fire kilns is excellent.

I found this book a useful tool in thinking about the way I woodfire. If a person is not a woodfire potter or avid collector of woodfired work it may not be for you. The is definately not a casual read.

The visuals are amazing,from the finished work to the building of a kiln. It was picticularly helpful in deciding on what pieces of art work to put into a firing. The information on the hard work and the gradifacation that inspirers woodfire, helped me perpar for being part of an astonishing process.

This book covers most everything I wanted to know about Japanese Wood-Fired Ceramics. The only area I wish it had was more pictures of finished pieces. Technique and building kilns it covered thoroughly.

This is a thoughtful, insightful, informative book packed with beautiful examples of the subtle and sometimes startling effects of "Yohen". Lancet and Kusakabe offer the reader inspiration while graciously revealing the mysteries of this ancient art form of firing.

I have a wheel, and I greatly admire traditional Japanese pottery. Looking for inspiration, I inferred from the title and the information that there are over 700 photos that the book would surely offer samples of pottery from different periods and locations. Wrong. While there are indeed hundreds of photos, all of the featured fired ceramics were made by the authors. Both are capable potters who make pots that spring from Japanese tradition, and many of Kusakabe's are very nice, but Lancet features a great deal of sculptural handbuilding (including lots of human torsos, most with windows in them, and a goat udder pitcher) that some will perhaps find interesting, but their only connection to Japanese ceramics seems to me to be that they have been wood-fired. If you are interested in the more arcane aspects of Japanese wood-fired kiln effects, this is your book. There are numerous photos of different surface effects, along with their Japanese names. A great deal of the book is devoted to kiln construction, but if you are interested in building one, you might find Fred Olsen's The Kiln Book a better starting point.