Matcha Monday (and more)

It had been far too long since I have had matcha on hand, and I need to get a whole lot more.  I have oddly realized that Matcha may actually be the ideal tea to make in an office setting.  What makes matcha ideal? Well besides the few random additional items you need to make it properly such as a whisk, there are no wet spent leaves to dispose of, as you drink all of them.  More so when you work in a building that has rules against doing any sort of dishes in any sink on the floor (possibly even building), being able to rinse out and drink from the bowl while *cleaning it* is certainly a plus.

But having fun with alliterations one day, I realized Matcha Monday sounded like a fun tradition to try and ignite.  I realized in the first Monday, which is captured in these images, that perhaps after work is not idea for a tea as powerful as Matcha (though it may have been the coffee in addition to the Matcha), so I may need to make it a habit to wake up early enough to have a bowl before work.  But I've gotten a shocking amount of praise for this teabowl, which is quitely shocking to me.

While granted, while being my own worst critic, I will admit this bowl has the least issues of all the pieces I made in my Anagama class, but that does not make it anything special at all.   It is quite pleasing though to be using a piece that at least feels like it has the proper weight to it when used.  Sadly the Koudai / foot is not incredibly pronounced but it was carved from an otherwise pinchwork bowl, which I thought had walls that were too thin until the final product came out and they were just right.

I actually highly encourage anyone to try and create some of their own tea items to use while drinking, it is rather nice to be able to enjoy tea while thinking "I made this."  But with only two *semesters* of ceramics classes under my belt, I am still incredibly skeptical of my ability to make anything resembling a functioning teapot.   I would like to be able to throw pots eventually, having in those two semesters due to a few missed classes spent less than 10 hours attempting to use the wheel for pottery.


So for the next few weeks (years, or more) does anyone want to join me in #MatchaMonday ?