“Take Bon Bon” - Slip trailer

Slip and glaze trailing is the process of drawing designs, patterns, words, calligraphy, etc. on the surface of a pot by pouring in some manner and without the use of a brush. Slip or glaze will be poured on the surface of a leather-hard or biscuited piece so that a raised ridge of contrasting color is achieved. This is a purely decorative process, not peculiar to any one culture, though it approached peaks of sophistication in only a few places and times.  

Japanese has been using and developing such techniques and styles for hundreds of years. Places such as Koishibara, Onda, and Tamba are famous today for glaze and slip trailing respectively.

At Tamba, a bamboo tube is used to inscribe poems in white slip on the surface of black glazed sake bottles. The bottle is thrown and biscuited, and a coating of black glaze is applied. Before the ware is fired, the slip is applied with bamboo tube. In using the tube for decorating, the potter fills the bamboo tube with slip. Then, the bottle is held in the hand so that complete positional control of the surface being decorated, as well as control of the tube. After decorating, the bottle is fired and the slip permanently imbedded in the glaze coat.

Many modern potters use the postindustrial slip trailer such as the rubber or plastic squeeze container. However, squeeze trailers require constant squeezing and produce lines of utterly dull regularity. And any air present in the container will come out as a bubble when the tube is squeezed and will mar the trailed line. And rubber container usually small in size and require to be filled often which will let air get into the glaze or slip. This will not happen if you use trailer such as "Take Bon Bon" - Bamboo tube trailer. This trailer can hold about 400c.c. of slip or glaze. It works just like a teapot and no squeezing is needed.

If you feel the spout is too wide and difficult to control the trail. You can get around this by inserting the adapter straw (included) into the end of spout and sealing it with a bit of wet clay.  

This tool is quite sturdy overall, except where the spout and the body join. There may be leakage in the join after years of use or caused by changing in temperature and moisture. A quick way to get a round it is to seal it with a bit of clay. A long-term fix is to seal it with hot glue gun or white glue.  

Caution: Do not leave slip or any liquid in the trailer for more than two hours, the bamboo may absorb too much water and crack. Wash the trailer with water after every use. If mould formed, simply remove it with fine sand paper.

Following are some pots trailed by using Japanese bamboo trailer:  

 

Photo and materials from :
Inside Japanese Ceramics by Richard L. Wilson 1995
The World of Japanese Ceramics by Herbert H. Sanders
The Japanese Pottery Handbook by Penny Simpson
Shoji Hamada, A Potter's Way and Work by Susan Peterson
The Art of Bernard Leach by Carol Hogben

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