First election and more glass studios!

We left ‘Studio Fresco’ at the beginning of last week. First of all, we went to the German embassy in Osaka, where Louise, for the first time, was allowed to vote in the elections for Mayor, Council and Parliament. In this skyscraper with an amazing view, she found herself with a surprisingly long list of choices. After some consideration it was completed, and we quickly ran to the post office to send her vote by express-post to Germany, hoping that it would get there in time.

After we had said our goodbyes to Takeshi Tsunjio in Osaka City, we moved westwards into the country, to Ryo Sekino. He set up is own studio with his wife, after his apprenticeship with Takeshi, a job as a technician at the University of Osaka and six months in Australia. It only took him half a year to set up the furnace and to begin working and the studio has now been running for two years. When we arrived he immediately invited us to assist the next day together with his wife. Of course, we were delighted. Together we made six big plates in a simple crackle technique. We found Ryos’ varied ways of working with the crackle technique fascinating, and he uses this technique for many of his pieces. The crackled effect in the glass can be achieved through putting hot glass into water. Our glass teacher in Zwiesel, Mr Mühlener, had often encouraged us to try this technique, but we weren’t that interested then.

After two days of being relaxed tourists looking round Kyoto, we hitched a ride to Qualia Glass Studio in Mino. Four years ago, Akiko set up her little studio here and has since been working on her own every day without ever turning off the furnace. Her living space is above the studio and includes a lovely kitchen, lounge and bedroom. Every day she prepared tasty meals for the three of us using fresh vegetables from her father’s garden. There is an excellent paper museum in Mino where Franca was keen on visiting. They exhibit Washi paper which has been made by hand in this region for thousands of years and is very well known outside of Japan.

For the last two days, glass and paper have been a nice combination for us, and today we’re on the train racing along the west coast towards more glass.