Bowl with maple leaf design in overglaze enamel and sumi-hajiki.

After sketching several times, I created my own original maple leaf pattern. I tried to express the transparency of maples leaves lit by the sun by drawing maple leaf patterns on the white base using the Sekka sumihajiki method, and combining them with the platinum overglaze decoration.

Techniques
Sekka sumihajiki (decorating with white slip, glazing and firing, making the patterns remain white after firing), platinum glaze

• 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).

• “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.