Icheon Pottery Village

We left the hotel at about 9:30 am and arrived in Icheon at around 10:45 am. Our first stop was at a pottery workshop where we could practice our skills. I learned a lot about Caledon pottery and why it is so special. First, the pottery is created (which is an art on its own) and then the potter carves the pattern into the clay. Then they inlay clay of a different colour on the existing clay and this is the art of Caledon. Once you see it, you will understand why Caledon pottery is so special. Though the term "celadon" is somewhat misleading in that it means green, it has become widely accepted as the Western term for the Korean pottery, called Cheong-ja in Korean, with the distinctive jade-green color.

             

The potters that we visited in Icheon are using their traditional kiln about 4-5 times a year and they only use it for Caledone masterpieces. The traditional kilns are fired with pinewood, the “mass production kilns” with gas. Each kiln only holds approx. 10-15 pieces on average. The firing takes anything between 2-5 days – depending on the time of year and weather condition. Winter is the best time for firing. Another art that these potters are capable of is the measuring of temperature without a gauge. They only look at the colour of the fire and insert their hand in a little hole in the kiln and they know if the temperature is right or not. 

After the pottery we stopped for lunch – where again 70-90 dishes covered the table. It is interesting to have so much variety on the table every day. Mind you, Koreans don’t have quite as many dishes on the table on a daily basis. These are dishes that are mainly served when you go out for dinner or have a family get together.

Before we went on our long trip to the tea garden in Boseong, we stopped at a pottery show and museum.

     

We finally arrived in Boseong at 7:45 pm. Now we look forward to seeing the tea garden tomorrow morning.