shoji hamada video - jillian smith

     After watching this video I found it very interesting when they started talking about the different kiln's that they used and how one can fit 3000 different pots in it which is fired every 6 weeks, the salt glazed kiln can only fit 300 pots and the enamel kiln that was fired to 1300 degrees every 3 days. I didn't realize how much work went into making ceramics and how many different jobs there were for people to do. The door of each chamber were bricked up after they were full and then covered with fine sand in order to keep he heat inside. They used a lot of wood to fire the kiln and had teams that would ensure each chamber was continuously lit with fire. I found it interesting that it took 3 days and 3 nights to fire the kiln completely. Each pot was directly decorated by Hamada even though most of his workers were in charge of glazing them.