Japanese toymaker Takara-Tomy gives dreams and fantasies to billions of kids all over the world... in exchange for good money. Nothing wrong about that, because Takara-Tomy is not a philanthropic outfit anyway.

Takara-Tomy's Rokuro Club: The small potter's wheel is turning busily.

It gives some dreams to big people, too. Yes, the unfulfilled dream of most adults in Japan, at least. Statistics say almost 70 percent of the people in this category want to learn the skill of pottery, but could not get around to do it for one reason or another. Learning the craft of pottery demands quite a large investment: A hefty potter's wheel, bulky gas or electric kiln and, above all, a lengthy period of learning with a good instructer. Finding a pottery class near you would be rather hard.

Takara shortcuts everything with its "Rokuro Club" (Rokuro means "potter's wheel" in Japanese)--an all-inclusive novice pottery kit--and a do-it-yourself approach. With this kit, your long-time dream could come true instantly.

Kit's potter's wheel is rather a smallish affair (230 x 150 x 230mm), powered by 4x D batteries. No chips, no silicon--a total throwback in this digital environment! You definitely can't turn an amphora for transporting wine with this wheel, sorry.

Its clay, too, is a special affair, provided by Takara. It's impregnated with a kind of plastic resin. Takara refuses to reveal its actual content. All right, you turn a vessel, say, a tea bowl on the wheel somehow, using this Takara clay. Finished?

Then, drying. It takes three to five days to dry the bowl thoroughly. Oh, you're an impatient lot? In that case, throw it into your kitchen oven; temperature 120 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes. Yes, it's instant drying!

Now, the firing. Again, the kitchen oven. Set the temperature to 130 Centigrades, 30 to 40 minuts. That's all, folks. Are you disappointed?

Actually, this is not a true firing in the kiln (you need more than 1,000 degrees Celcius for this!). This low temperature melts the resin in the clay, and glues the particles of clay firmly together. Therefore the finished vessel shouldn't be exposed to the higher temperature of, say, boiling water. No, don't put it in microwave oven or regular oven!

A novice Rokuro Club potter's work: Rather impressive.

Finally, coloring (red, blue, yellow and white) and glaze. Again, the kit's "glaze" is not the true glaze of real pottery job, but an aqueous urethane coating. It gives a glassy gloss on the surface anyway. Now, your tea bowl is watertight. As long as the urethane coating holds, the bowl behaves exactly in the same way as other mainstream earthenware, say, delicate Raku ware. Strictly no dishwasher, OK?

Rokuro Club kit costs around 8,000 yen (US$70) at Net shopping sites. Extra clay (1kg package, red clay or black), further 1,500 yen (US$13). Extra pseudo-glaze (I would call it urethane sealant), 500 yen (US$4.38) a bottle (30g).

Pottery is a respected craft, if not a haughty art, in Japan. Let's start today with this lowly but easy Rokuro Club, and keep on trying. Who knows, you might be venerated as one of the greatest ceramic artisans in future.

 

cheewee
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kaisei1
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