Finally Getting Around to Signing my Work…maybe

This past week went by like a blur!

I started diving into researching tea and tea culture. Starting at everyone’s most “reliable” resource Wikipedia. Now, I grew up in the generation where this website was highly frowned upon. But, it really has it’s benefits—the reference tab at the bottom of every page. Also, while skimming the bulk of the writing, you can quickly defer back to the source material via hot-linked superscripts of source material. Wikipedia is a great starting point and just that, a start.

A fun fact that I learned early on in my research is development of the two words regarding the brewing of leaves in hot water, tea and cha. Both were derived from China and each developed in different sectors of the globe because of how they got to that region. Tea was popularized in regions/countries in which the leaves came by sea while cha was popularized by land routes.

My current research is leading me to rethink the sizing of my teapots. Gongfu style tea preparation favors smaller brewing vessels—think Yixing teapots or gaiwans, both of which fit within one hand. So for the next few weeks, I’m going to focus on smaller forms. I hope this quicker iterations will help my surfacing practice as well as experimentation.

Some other notable happenings this past week are Dirtbags had its first meeting and Brian finished and submitted his dossier!

Here’s to another week of making and learning.

P.S.

I have stumbled upon an old students flameware recipe and I hope to try it out. It’d be awesome if I could make stove safe ceramic water kettles.