So on Memorial Day, after having dropped the monkey off at grandma’s the night before, Mary and I decided to visit Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, IL.  While we were at the garden, the weather was beautiful — warm and sunny!  This was our first trip to Anderson, so we didn’t really know what to expect.  Needless to say we were quite impressed and will definitely be back.  Perhaps in the fall for the tea ceremony?  My only beef with the place is that they don’t label their plants, which I can totally understand.  But sometimes I’d really like to know what we are looking at…Anyway, here are some pics:

To see the whole set, click here.

In the last couple of months I’ve been very fortunate to be featured on two really neat blogs: A plate a day and Skull-A-Day.  These great sites feature the work of many talented people from around the globe every single day.  Check them out when you have some free time to kill at work or where ever you may be reading this…

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Yesterday was a challenging day for many reasons that I won’t go into here. The saving grace, however, is that I received a yunomi from Brandon that I ordered via Etsy.  Huzzah!   Really made my day.

Check out the pretty awesome glaze run!

So now I am sitting here, drinking tea, and contemplating a shower.  I think a shower would be a good idea.  Back in a few…

I’d been drinking tea more regularly, so I really needed a teapot to brew some up in properly.  Hadn’t made any since college, so figured now was the time to start again.  Needless to say I was a bit rusty.  But, in a few short weeks, 4 pots made came to fruition.  3 of them work really well, and 1 was an utter failure (functionally speaking).  Three of them can be viewed here and here.  Can you guess which one doesn’t work?  Basically these are the show pieces, the fourth teapot is at home with me.  My teachers have always said that to best judge a piece you need to live with it.  So I have been using it daily for about a month.  There are so many things you can learn from a piece of pottery that gets daily use — specially a teapot.  How does it pour?  Is the handle comfortable?  How hard or easy is it to get the tea leaves out when you are done brewing?  How much water does it hold and is it enough?  These are some of the questions I have asked myself about this particular piece.  Ironically, before actually using it, I assumed it was going to be the worst functioning piece of the bunch.  But, it has proven to be quite the reliable workhorse.  Granted it has minor issues, and things I will change in the future, but all in all, this particular teapot is a success.  This is the little guy:

It is based on the Japanese Kyusu style, glazed with Guston Shino, and sprinkled with wood ash from my in-law’s fireplace.  As you can see from the close-up, the strainer is drilled out of teh pot’s wall.

I’ve been using the pot to brew quite a few different teas: a loose leaf pu-ehr, a lapsang souchong, and 2nd grade jasmine pearls.  All are from Ten Ren here in Chicago.  Today’s selection is is the jasmine.

And a shot of the beast in progress: