Things around Jingdezhen

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There are a lot of things to do and see when you are in Jingdezhen. Everyday I try to take a break from the studio to go shopping for supplies and materials and this gives me the opportunity to venture off and explore.

One place I really liked was this paint and glaze shop. Everyone here told me it was famous and I asked why it was and they said it because it was clean and organized. I thought it was organized but not necessarily clean. A woman owned it and ran the business and I really liked how loud she was. There were also lots of large blowup pictures of her with other famous Chinese people that I don't know. She even had some kind of spread in Ceramics Art and Perception. At this shop you can get ceramic colors to paint on bisque and lots and lots of glazes to choose from. The sample tests for glazes were amazing to look at. So many celadons and there must have been a whole wall devoted to clears. They know there clears here and which ones are best for not letting the blue and white decoration run.

Every Saturday at the Pottery Workshop they host a Creative Market from 8 am to noon. This juried market is for students and most of them come from the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute. They pay 20 RMB, which equals to about $3.50, to set up a table and sell their items. Everyone told me this is when you see all the fancy cars around the area because people come from Shanghai to buy these cheaply priced items and resell for a more expensive prices in their shops. It was interesting to see what the students are making. Some of it started to look the same but there were a few that I really liked and I bought a plate and a bowl with a painting of a chair on them from a girl named Lily. I probably bought the most un-Chinese looking things at the market.

What is the most interesting thing about the market is that everybody wants to sell at it. Every week they catch people sneaking in and setting up tables! Just watching the security guard run around and catch people is a highlight of the event. They talked about building a tall fence to control it but that wouldn't work...they would just climb the fence.

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Photos

My studio space.
I have a really great view and it has really nice light in the morning.

Slip casting my deer.
Using super white casting slip and my mold works great.

Gogo friend.
This dog, or gogo in Chinese, is always hanging out by the residency space. I will make him my friend soon.

Gogo dinner.
There is also a garbage dump spot by the residency too. The dogs, cats and chickens all come here to eat. They tell me it does actually all get picked up by someone.

Dog on the way to the bookstore.
Short cut through a local village to get to a second hand bookstore. I have never seen a dalmation dog in China before.

Public Kiln
Gets loaded everyday by 11 am and you can go pick up your pieces the next day when they unload at 4 pm. Crazy!

Public kiln loading.
Lots of tiny glazed items ready to be fired.

Unloaded public kiln.
Sometimes the kiln gets fired to cone 13!

Underglaze colors
The test tiles were so beautiful.

Underglaze painting colors.
Very organized with tests...what you see is what you get.

Red underglazes.
I bought some of this color.

Glaze shop buckets.
It's kind of clean.

Glaze bottles.
Glaze is sold to you by liter in empty soda and water bottles.

Clear glaze samples
Lots of blue and white decoration.

Glaze samples
So many to choose from.

Open market tents.
This is the view from my bedroom window on Saturday.

Slip cast shoes at the Creative Market.
Do you see the slip cast pair of Crocs?

Fancy cars.
Fancy boxes full of beautiful ceramics ready to go somewhere.

Lily
She is a ceramic student and spoke really good english. She loved cats.

Bud vases at the Creative Market.
I really liked these because they looked so different and they reminded me of Ryan.

Comments

[Linda Perez]

Next best thing
Thank you for sharing this wonderful experience with us. Of course, I really wish I could be there with you learning and seeing all these amazing things, but having your blog is the next best thing!