Elated

Done with the first piece!!! Took longer than we expected (five days), but we've learned a lot about the aged paper stock that I've had and used, and other technical issues. After much difficulty trying to shoot it inside on the floor, I realized the best place was in the place it was made. Birds always, always perch on top of that wooden duck that my teacher made! I put out peanuts for the wee ones on the balcony rail.

You can see today was different from yesterday still.

This is a poor image, but it's a real gourd from my teacher's land next to mine. I insisted on making it crooked, which he didn't understand until I managed to get an image of a Japanese hyotan from Susan's book. Then he got very excited.

To mark the first rainy day since I've arrived, we had the traditional rainy day food: noodles,

pancakes, and makgeolli. My teacher's wife joked that the latter was to ensure that we were fully unable to make any more work today. The gourd was complete in the morning, and we spent the rest of the morning admiring it; my teacher insisted that we rest today because one piece was done.

This is what lies in wait tomorrow: the teapot. I've been dreading it (a double-walled vessel with LOTS of extras) but it will make so many things possible. I'll likely do the small white model, but with a hanji handle rather than bamboo. We'll see, as things always change while working. In the meantime, I took a happy nap, have started to re-read excellent articles for my Japanese research trip, and had delicious kozo twig tea!

p.s. - for anyone who wants to help with a mulberry harvest in Canada, look here!