My last stop was the Imari-Arita Ware Traditional Craft Center:

And in keeping with the wind chime festival theme, the entrance had wind chimes as well.

They had a miniature model of the kiln as well too(:

There are two rooms that feature Imari and Arita ware, and I thought this vase was really interesting.

I wonder how they get the figure of the people to be slightly raised. Must be difficult to do.

I also really liked this tea set.

The temporary exhibit was on how you could use pottery to serve various desserts.

Each setting came with a photo of how it looked like when there was actual food in it, and a mini explanation that came with a menu.

I have no eye for these things but I thought they were all really pretty!

And me being short had a difficult time getting this picture. But the dog was just so cute that I had to get a photo.

You can also try your hand at painting some pottery too! Here’s a list of what you can paint and the prices. You’ll have to add 700 yen for the delivery (and it takes about a month because they bake everything at one go). Sadly, they don’t deliver overseas.

I opted to paint a teacup because I’ve been wanting a personalised one for some time now.

They basically gave me two types of ink. One is thicker and is for drawing the outlines, which means that you can’t paint over it. If you do, the final product will look quite disastrous.

The second one is more watery and you can paint several layers – the more you paint over it, the darker the finished product will be.

I ended up painting two types of “pictures” onto the cup.

And for the finishing touch – my name!

The cup shrinks after it’s been baked in the kiln and I was quite surprised at how much bigger the unbaked cup was.

If you’re wondering how I came up with the idea for the cup, I didn’t. I used the reference book that they had and did my best to copy it (and while doing so, reminded myself why I’m not an art student).

All in all, this is a great way to spend a couple of hours. I enjoyed wandering around and exploring the place and I can’t wait for my mug to come (although according to the uncle that was at the center, the cup will come only after I forget about it).