OWL MY GOODNESS!

Hey guys! So I had the chance to go back to Kyoto today and guess what I did!? I went to an Owl Forrest Zoo! This zoo is located in a very famous outdoor mall in Kyoto's Shoji shopping district. The owls are very well taken care of and get many visitors everyday. 

Many of these owls live in North America, such as this Barn owl!

Here is an Eagle Owl!

There were a few rules we had to follow before they let us walk around the zoo. First, we could take pictures but we could not use flash. The flash could scare the owls. 

Western Siberian Eagle Owl

  
Second, we were allowed to pet the owls, but we could only use the back of our hands and we could only pet the owls' backs.

 Black Barn Owl

We were not allowed to touch the front of the owls because they could bite.

 Burrowing Owl

 

The Spotted Eagle Owl

 We also were not allowed to wake up sleeping owls. Like us humans, the owls might get upset if woken up.
 

The Snowy Owl

 This owl's name was Hedwig! Just like in Harry Potter, except this owl was a boy, not a girl. 

 The Indian Eagle Owl

 This owl was new, so we couldn't pet him. As he gets more used to people he'll start allowing people to pet his back.

I'm not sure what type of owl this one was, but he was the biggest! And my favorite!

 

Here is a video I made of some of the Owls! I hope you enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Guys!

Until Recently, people in Japan did not celebrate Halloween the way we do. But thanks to TV and the internet the traditions and celebrations of Halloween are spreading. Most kids here do not go trick or treating, but costumes and decorations are becoming very popular! 

Here is the 20 foot tall Tanuki ready to go Trick or Treating!

I hope you all have a fun and spooky holiday!

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Pit Firing!

Hey guys! Today I was fortunate enough to see pit firing being performed at the park where I am doing my residency. Pit firing is one of the most widespread and oldest form of ceramic firings going back 30,000 years. It was used in ancient times by the Egyptians the Greeks and the Romans as well as by Native Americans, early Europeans, and is still used today by some Native American tribes, many African pottery collectives, and many modern ceramic artists. The pit firing I saw today was in celebration of the beginning of the fire festival in the town of Shigaraki where I'm living. Here are some pictures and videos of the event!

The firing should take about 18 hours. Six hours to fire and 12 hours to cool down. Artists place the pots into a shallow pit in the ground. They then place bricks around the pits to create some depth. The pots are surrounded with kindling, usually sawdust, that will burn and heat up the clay. The pots are then covered with wood and the piles are lit on fire. The artists will continue to feed wood in to the piles until they reach the temperature that is needed for the pots to become hard or vitrified. This can be very dangerous so the people stoking the fire must be careful.  The fire will create a lot of really interesting effects on the surface of the pots from the ash and the burning of the wood.  The fire can even create patterns on the clay. 

Once the pits reach the temperature needed the artists will stop adding wood to the fire and they will cover the pits to start the cooling process. The pits are covered so that the pots will not cool down too fast and crack.

  

Once the pots are at a safe and cool temperature they are removed from the pit and washed off to reveal their new surfaces.  The white clay turned pink, black, and even green, depending on where it was in the pit firing.