Chad Corbin
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mudmeditations.com
Chad Corbin
@mudmeditations.com
420 followers 250 following 170 posts
A Study in Imperfection
Boulder, CO
2025 Starworks Summer AIR
Instructor at Groundworks Art Lab
I love a long, hot woodfire...and teabowls
www.mudmeditations.com
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Mino style bowl using 100% unprocessed Cameron clay from North Carolina, and a simple shino-like glaze. Woodfired @starworksnc.bsky.social

#sado #chanoyu #茶碗 #茶の湯 #茶道 #woodfired pottery #woodfiredceramics #noborigamafired #shino #shinoglaze
Front of teabowl with crawling glaze and finger marks. Back of teabowl. Foot of teabowl showing wadding marks.
July 31, 2025 at 2:32 PM
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Test piece from the last woodfire. On display at "The Dark Show" July 19 - August 23.

www.starworksnc.org/starworks-ev...

Firing a piece 10x its size in two weeks. Time at Starworks is passing fast.

#ceramicart #ceramicsculpture #void #emptiness #thespacebetween #woodfiredceramics #starworksnc
Front right view of sculpture. Measures 12" tall. Results were not at all what I expected, but really interesting nonetheless. Front left view of sculpture. Work in progress is about ten times the overall volume of this piece. Detail of inside surface. Cracking and peeling of the applied slip was not intended but gives a really nice effect. Detail view of inside surface. Surprising variety in colors ranging from greens to purples. No glaz was applied, this is just wood ash.
July 14, 2025 at 11:23 AM
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For your consideration. Three of these will be submitted to the Kansas City Clay Guild Teabowl National. Help me select the three.

#teabowl #chawan #teaceremony #tbn2025 #teabowlnational2025 #茶碗 #茶の湯
Grid of nine chawan from which I'll select three for submission to the 2025 Teabowl National.
May 7, 2025 at 3:42 PM
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Raku-style bowl. "Dark Side of the Moon". Lots of mixed feelings about this one.

#tea #teaceremony #chawan #matchawan #rakuchawan #raku #sadō #chanoyu #楽 #茶碗 #茶の湯
Side of bowl showing a red stripe where the surface transitions from smooth to cratered. Front of teabowl showing the moon-like cratering in the glaze. I had to do a lot of cleanup with a grinder to make the surface smooth enough to use. Back of chawan with mottled glossy black glaze. Gorgeous variation in this surface. Kodai of the chawan with spiral detail.
April 5, 2025 at 4:18 PM
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Teabowl. Black clay with wood ash nuka. Hand formed thick and carved. Thinking about which bowls I want to submit to the KC Clay Guild Teabowl National and this style seems right as it feels like my own. Interested in your thoughts.

#tea #matcha #teabowl #chawan #茶碗 #teaceremony #chanoyu #茶の湯
Front of teabowl with prominent glaze drip. The foot was carved to be slightly concave, an intentional reference to some of the famous Korean Ido bowls. Another view of the carved foot. There are a few glaze defects that will have to be addressed with lacquer and gold, but the end result will be worth the effort.
March 23, 2025 at 2:34 PM
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I taught a Raku-style teabowl workshop these last two weekends. The result of a lot of clay testing, glaze formulation and learning the best way to fire our kiln. Much to my relief, the work paid off and each of the students' bowls came out great.

#raku #kuroraku #rakujawan #chawan #teaceremony #茶碗
Front of chawan. Two characteristics of Raku bowls I love are the "waist " and the slightly turned-in rim. The rim isn't actually turned in much, it is just left thick and beveled. Leaving the rim thick helps with balance also. Interior of the chawan. Really good citrus skin texture on this one. Foot of the chawan. A spiral in the kodai is traditional, but I opted for a backwards yin-yang. The choice was unconscious, but appropriate. I formed this bowl while experiencing a huge disruption to my personal life.
March 3, 2025 at 3:18 PM
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Kurinuki demo piece for my intermediate handbuilding class. If it resembles Satake or Matsuzaki, you wouldn't be wrong; I took some workshops with them. Fun glaze combo gives something Oribe-ish. More rabbit holes to explore.

#kurinuki #handbuiltpottery #abstract #sculpture #pottersofbluesky
Right quarter view of sculpture. The glaze combo I used -- a fake blue ash and iron saturate -- gives a really interesting contemporary Oribe look. Front view of sculpture. I really like the soft organic folding near the base. Left quarter view of sculpture. Texture created by adding a lot of silica and intentionally wedging air into the clay.
February 27, 2025 at 11:16 PM
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Intermission. I've been taking Ikenobo classes, so of course I made a container.

#ikenobo #ikebana #shoka #flowerarranging #pottersofbluesky
Ikenobo Shoka style arrangement with fasciated willow and tulips in a black clay container with iron saturated glaze.
February 24, 2025 at 3:00 PM
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Bowl-like-thing. Black clay thrown thick and carved. Tenmoku liner. Wood-salt fired. Looks like a chunk of basalt.

Struggling to call this a teabowl because it would shred a chakin in a nanosecond, but as a sculptural piece, it works well.

#tea #teabowl #chawan #chanoyu #sadō #teaceremony #茶碗 #茶の湯
Bowl with very rough exterior. Thrown thick, allowed to dry to leather hard, then cut with a razor and the clay torn away.
February 22, 2025 at 9:06 PM
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Simple hand-formed teabowl with a shino-Iike glaze oversaturated with iron and bone ash. Iron is amazing for its range of colors and effects.

#tea #teabowl #chawan #chanoyu #sadō #茶碗
Front of chawan.
February 21, 2025 at 5:02 PM
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Another textured teabowl. Same body, glaze and firing as the previous, but different location in the kiln. Instead of imparting a glossy sheen, the salt flashes the pot in a salmon pink.

#tea #teabowl #chawan #teaceremony #woodfiredpottery #pottersofbluesky
Front of chawan showing carved texture and pink flashing. Foot of chawan. Interior of chawan, celadon liner.
February 20, 2025 at 8:21 PM
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Woodfired tenmoku-style bowl. At the time, I thought this a decent facsimile of the originals, but now it feels a bit heavy handed. That rim is so darn hard to get right.

#tea #teabowl #chawan #tenmoku #teaceremony #woodfired #pottersofbluesky
February 19, 2025 at 3:19 PM
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Dojimari-gata (waist type) teabowl. Woodfired porcelaneous stoneware with an unglazed exterior. Beautiful range of colors from the wood ash and flame shadows.

#teabowl #chawan well beyond #20pots #teaceremony #woodfiredpottery
Front of chawan showing blue-grey ash deposits and salmon colored flashing. Foot of chawan showing wadding marks and flame shadows.
February 18, 2025 at 1:18 PM
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Slip-textured and woodfired teabowl with crawling shino interior. See ALT text for more info!

#chawan #teabowl #teaceremony #chanoyu #sadō #woodfired #woodfiredpottery #pottersofbluesky
Front of teabowl showing salmon-pink flashing and blue, grey and green ash deposits. Interior of chawan showing chadamari and crawling shino glaze. It took me a really long time to be OK with crawling interiors. Foot of chawan, minimally carved. I use a "pinch and throw" technique on a banding wheel to form this style of bowl, then apply two layers of sanded, contrasting slips to create the texture.
February 17, 2025 at 3:52 PM
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Mino style teabowl, Shino type. Thrown thick, then shaved. Same glaze inside and out, but with different applications.

#chadō #茶道 #chanoyu #茶の湯 #matchawan #chawan #teabowl #茶碗 #shinoglaze #pottersofbluesky #februarty
Front of chawan showing crawling and finger swipes. Back of teabowl with larger crawling patterns. Interior of chawan. Glaze was thinned before applying to the inside to eliminate crawling. Foot of chawan, roughly carved with a wooden tool.
February 17, 2025 at 12:10 AM
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An older aka-shino style bowl. Hand-formed sandy stoneware.

Richly textured glaze with yuzuhada (citrus skin) and suana (nest holes) created by course sand.

#teabowl #chawan #teaceremony #chanoyu #sado #yuzuhada #suana
Front of teabowl with glaze drips. Foot of teabowl. Sandy clay creates a rough texture when trimmed. Interior of teabowl showing chadamari. Sand in the clay creates "suana" (nest holes) in the glaze.
February 15, 2025 at 4:58 PM
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Hand-formed teabowl with iron saturate glaze. Wood fired in the Groundworks Art Lab anagama in 2022. A bit quieter than most. This one remains one of my favorites.

#tea #teabowl #chawan #茶碗 #teaceremony #sadō #茶道 #chanoyu #茶の湯 #woodfiredpottery #pottersofbluesky
Front of chawan. This side faced the flame which caused the glaze to run a bit more, lightening the glaze. Side of chawan showing difference in flame impact on glaze. Interior of chawan showing chadamari. Foot of chawan. Trimmed minimally in the style of Hon'ami Kōetsu.
February 14, 2025 at 4:06 PM
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In keeping with the textural theme: hand formed and carved teabowl with iron saturate liner. This one found a life partner in the anagama, now separated and bearing the scars of loss. (I'm feeling emo today.)

#tea #teabowl #chawan #teaceremony #chanoyu #sadō #woodfiredpottery #pottersofbluesky
Front of chawan showing the scar where it touched another pot in the firing. Back of chawan showing the yamamichi (mountain path) landscape rim. Interior of chawan. Chadamari is there, but hardly visible. Bottom of chawan showing minimal, carved foot and wadding marks.
February 13, 2025 at 4:43 PM
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Something a little different. Porcelaneous stoneware teabowl thrown thick and carved. Celadon liner. Wood-salt fired.

#teabowl #chawan #teaceremony #pottery #ceramics #pottersofbluesky #woodfiredpottery
Front of teabowl. The chawan was thrown thick, allowed to dry to hard leather hard, then siced and torn with a razor to create the texture. The salt added to the firing gives the texture a smooth glossy finish.
February 12, 2025 at 4:02 PM
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Hand-formed teabowl with slip texture and shino-like glaze. Wood+salt fired in the Groundworks Art Lab Bourry Box.

This one went to the KC Clay Guild Teabowl National last year.

#teabowl #teaceremony #chanoyu #sadō #chawan
Front of chawan. This bowl fired in the front of the stack near the salt port and was heavily fluxed by the salt, causing this normally stable shino to move.
February 11, 2025 at 3:49 PM
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Kuroraku-style bowl. Fired to 1100C, removed hot, and water quenched. Basalt glaze.

The body remains light and insulating. Quenching the bowl results in the desired "thuck" when tapped with a tea scoop.

#chawan #kuroraku #teabowl #chanoyu #teaceremony #sadō #pottersofbluesky #茶碗 #茶道 #茶の湯
Front of the chawan. There's a surprising amount of variation in the glaze, and a scar on the rim from contact with another bowl in the kiln. Both help to define the front of the bowl. Interior of the chawan showing the chadamari. Foot of the teabowl. The bowl was fired on nichrome stilts, allowing the entire foot to be glazed.
February 10, 2025 at 3:28 PM
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Hand-formed teabowl with slip texture and shino-like glaze. Woodfired in the Groundworks Art Lab anagama. Wishing I still had this one, but happy knowing it's being loved by its new owner.

#teabowl #teaceremony #chanoyu #sadō #chawan
Front of teabowl with crawling shino glaze and scorch marks. Side of teabowl with dark scorch marks from a 4 day woodfiring in an anagama kiln. Minimal foot carved by hand.
February 9, 2025 at 3:17 PM
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Tanka-fired (in a sagar with charcoal) teabowl with shino-like glaze. Hand formed from iron bearing stoneware amended with fine sand. Unintentionally similar to Hon'ami Kōetsu's Fujisan.

#teabowl #chawan #chanoyu #茶碗
Side view of the chawan showing crawling and areas where the charcoal fused with the glaze. Front view of the chawan showing crawling and areas where the charcoal fused with the glaze. Interior of the chawan with well-defined chadamari. Foot of chawan, simply and minimally trimmed.
February 8, 2025 at 3:11 PM
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Hand-formed teabowl with shino-like glaze. Woodfired in the Groundworks Art Lab anagama a few years ago.

#teabowl #chawan #茶碗 #chanoyu #茶の湯 #sadō #茶道 #pottersofbluesky
Front of chawan showing heavy ash deposits, crystals and fire color. Back of chawan with glaze drips and red fire color. Foot of chawan. Heavy ash deposits over clay with additional sand to create texture. Rim and interior of chawan showing ash deposits.
February 7, 2025 at 3:31 PM
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Chōsen-Garatsu style bowl with iron saturate and white ash glazes. Wood-salt fired in the now defunct Groundworks Art Lab Bourry Box.

I'm dying inside without access to a wood kiln. I'm dying inside due to current events also, but pottery helps.

#teabowl #chawan #chosengaratsu #woodfiredceramics
Front of chawan with prominent gaze drips. Foot of chawan showing glaze drips Rim detail of chawan. I love how this ash glaze breaks transparent and has an opalescent fringe. Foot detail of chawan. Yummy glaze drips.
February 6, 2025 at 3:10 PM