Bowl with bush clover design in overglaze enamel and sumi-hajiki.

I tried to express the calm and peaceful atmosphere of autumn in this piece, using several techniques of which some can barely be seen. I painted a pattern using the usuzumi sumihajiki method and applied even lighter ink, added an overglaze decoration using light blue, and added white patterns using the sekka sumihajiki method.

Techniques
Sekka sumihajiki (decorating with white slip, glazing and firing, making the patterns remain white after firing), platinum glaze, usuzumi sumihajiki (spraying diluted ink before glazing and firing), overglaze decoration

• Overglaze enamel

  Overglaze enamel decorations (iro-e, literally “colored pictures”) are achieved by applying designs to the surface of already glazed and fired porcelain. The decorations are painted over the glaze, and the piece is fired again at a low temperature of approximately 800℃. The pigments used in traditional overglaze decorations are known as wa enogu (“Japanese paints”) and offer a palette of colors such as red, blue, yellow, green, and purple. Overglaze enameling may also be done with Western pigments (yō enogu).

• Ink resist decorations

  Ink resist (sumihajiki) techniques developed in the seventeenth century as a method for reserving white spaces in designs on Nabeshima ware, a type of high-quality gift porcelain fired in the Saga Nabeshima domain’s official kilns. Sumi ink is used to paint designs on the vessel, over which colored pigments are then applied. The ink, which contains animal glue, repels the water in the pigment, preventing it from adhering to the body of the piece. When the vessel is bisque fired, the ink evaporates, leaving behind white designs in its place.

• “Snowflake” ink resist decorations

  The “snowflake” ink resist (sekka sumihajiki) technique is an original innovation by Imaizumi Imaemon XIV. The technique combines white slip decorations and brush-painted ink-resist designs. By using a slip that is paler than the porcelain, the technique produces subtle expressions. Successfully combining materials with varying contraction rates requires special consideration, both in respect to the application of designs and the firing temperatures used to evaporate the ink resists.