Various shards I’ve collected through the years showing the variety of color and carved design in Hutian qingbai ware.
Category: Photos
Early Glazy Prototype
Look familiar? No, it’s not Glazy, it’s Jingdezhen 😜 Just a few samples from the glaze shops in Jingdezhen. You can get spoiled being a ceramicist here, where amazing glazes from every dynasty in every color are available by the bucket! Someday maybe Glazy will become a virtual Jingdezhen glaze shop!
Chinese Vintage Cigarette Labels
Celebrating ancient Chinese ceramics in vintage cigarette labels: 1. “Painted Pottery” honoring neolithic pottery from the Yangshao culture. 2. Named for Jingdezhen, “Ceramic Capital”, and produced in Jiangxi. 3. “Porcelain vase” cigarettes from Hohhot in Inner Mongolia. 4. “Ancient Ceramics” with four representative types of Chinese porcelain. 5. “Ancient Pottery” from Guizhou Province. 6. “Sancai”… Continue reading Chinese Vintage Cigarette Labels
Qing Porcelain Stone Tests
These are melt tests of different types of porcelain stone from sometime at or before the Qing dynasty. Iron or blue qinghua underglaze was used to write place names and other notes on each test. Porcelain stone is an amazing material that primarily comes from a number of mines near Jingdezhen. Combining porcelain stone with… Continue reading Qing Porcelain Stone Tests
A throne for a king
72 Hands
http://72hands.org/ From theTiangong Kaiwu (天工開物) encyclopedia compiled by Song Yingxing (宋应星) at the end of the Ming Dynasty comes the oft-cited quote: “共计一杯工力，过手七十二，方可成器” “For the total work required to make a single cup, it must pass through 72 hands, and only then can it become a vessel.” 72 Hands is an effort to document all types of ceramics techniques.… Continue reading 72 Hands
Smartphone Macro Photography
I’ve tried a number of smartphone lenses in the article Smartphone Microscopy. Today I received my first macro lens for smartphones, the Xenvo iPhone Camera Lens Kit Pro – Macro Lens & Wide Angle Lens with LED Light.
I wanna be a cat
Ticking away
Qing dynasty carved calligraphy
Qing dynasty tests
Just one more..
Cat hotel
Firing logs are so cozy
Wanli Pheasant
Single photo from iPhone with Eyeskey lens. More details here.
Scanning Test Tiles
Having purchased a scanner for digitizing my family’s old photos, I had the brilliant idea to also scan glaze test tiles. I thought I was a genius until Matthew Katz mentioned that he had been scanning tiles for the past ten years. Matthew noted that CCD scanners have a greater depth of field, which is great for three-dimensional… Continue reading Scanning Test Tiles
Smartphone Microscopy
Last year I purchased a USB microscope (see article). It’s pretty fun, but ultimately I was really disappointed by the quality of the images. The 5MP sensor seems pretty cheap and images have a lot of artifacts. Furthermore I was never satisfied with the color. The best choice would probably be a “real” microscope with… Continue reading Smartphone Microscopy
Yaoli Village and Raonan Outdoor Ceramics Museum
Yaoli Ancient Village (瑶里古镇) is a fairly well-known tourist destination located about 1 1/2 hours by car from Jingdezhen. During the past few years I have visited the village a handful of times, and each time I’m even more disappointed by the continuous development, poor management, and flocks of tourists. But the countryside around Yaoli is… Continue reading Yaoli Village and Raonan Outdoor Ceramics Museum
