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  <title><![CDATA[Granite Crest Zone]]></title>
  <link>https://granitecrestzone.com/</link>
  <description><![CDATA[Granite Crest Zone is a ceramics school in Kyoto's Nishijin district. Beginner and intermediate wheel courses, anagama wood-fire intensives, and private tuition with Haruki Nishimura.]]></description>
  <language>en</language>
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    <title><![CDATA[Summer evening classes now open for booking]]></title>
    <link>https://granitecrestzone.com/</link>
    <description><![CDATA[The August beginner cohort runs Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 18:30 to 20:00. Six places, four weeks, all materials included. The studio is cooler than you might expect. The concrete walls hold the temperature well into the evening.]]></description>
    <pubDate>2026-07-14</pubDate>
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    <title><![CDATA[Autumn anagama firing: call for student work]]></title>
    <link>https://granitecrestzone.com/</link>
    <description><![CDATA[The autumn anagama firing is scheduled for 17-19 October 2026. Students who have completed the intermediate course or above can submit up to eight pieces for loading. Deadline for finished greenware is 30 September.]]></description>
    <pubDate>2026-06-22</pubDate>
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    <title><![CDATA[Spring anagama results: what came out of the kiln]]></title>
    <link>https://granitecrestzone.com/</link>
    <description><![CDATA[The May firing ran for 62 hours at a peak of approximately 1,280°C. Thirty-one pieces went in. Twenty-eight came out intact. Here is what we learned.]]></description>
    <pubDate>2026-05-30</pubDate>
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    <title><![CDATA[Why centring clay is the hardest skill to learn]]></title>
    <link>https://granitecrestzone.com/notes/centering-clay-wheel-beginners.html</link>
    <guid>https://granitecrestzone.com/notes/centering-clay-wheel-beginners.html</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[Ask any pottery teacher what separates students who progress from students who plateau, and the answer is almost always centring. Not glazing, not trimming, not even pulling walls. Centring. It is the first skill you learn and the one you keep refining for years. Here is what is actually happening when you try to centre clay, and why it is harder than it looks.]]></description>
    <pubDate>2026-05-12</pubDate>
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    <title><![CDATA[What makes Shigaraki clay different to throw with]]></title>
    <link>https://granitecrestzone.com/notes/shigaraki-clay-properties-throwing.html</link>
    <guid>https://granitecrestzone.com/notes/shigaraki-clay-properties-throwing.html</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[Granite Crest Zone uses Shigaraki clay for all studio work, sourced from a supplier in Shigaraki-cho about 60 km east of the studio. Students who have only worked with smooth, fine-grained clay before are often surprised by how different it feels. This article explains why Shigaraki clay behaves the way it does, and how to adjust your technique to work with it rather than against it.]]></description>
    <pubDate>2026-03-18</pubDate>
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    <title><![CDATA[How an anagama wood-fire kiln works]]></title>
    <link>https://granitecrestzone.com/notes/anagama-wood-fire-how-it-works.html</link>
    <guid>https://granitecrestzone.com/notes/anagama-wood-fire-how-it-works.html</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[The anagama is the oldest kiln form still in active use in Japan. A single, tunnel-shaped chamber dug into a hillside or built from refractory brick, fired with wood over two to four days. Granite Crest Zone fires its anagama twice a year, in spring and autumn. Students who have not fired in a wood kiln before often ask what the point is, given that an electric kiln is more controllable and more predictable. This article answers that question honestly.]]></description>
    <pubDate>2026-02-05</pubDate>
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    <title><![CDATA[Glazing your first pottery pieces: what actually matters]]></title>
    <link>https://granitecrestzone.com/notes/glazing-basics-pottery-beginners.html</link>
    <guid>https://granitecrestzone.com/notes/glazing-basics-pottery-beginners.html</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[Most beginners approach glazing the way they approach painting: pick a colour, brush it on, done. The results are usually disappointing. Uneven coverage, crawling, bare patches, or glaze that runs off the piece and fuses it to the kiln shelf. Glazing is not painting. Understanding what glaze actually is, and what it does in the kiln, changes everything about how you apply it.]]></description>
    <pubDate>2026-01-14</pubDate>
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  <item>
    <title><![CDATA[Trimming the foot ring: why it matters more than you think]]></title>
    <link>https://granitecrestzone.com/notes/trimming-foot-ring-pottery-technique.html</link>
    <guid>https://granitecrestzone.com/notes/trimming-foot-ring-pottery-technique.html</guid>
    <description><![CDATA[Trimming is the step most beginners want to skip. The piece is already made, it looks finished, and trimming feels like extra work. It is not extra work. It is the step that determines whether a piece is finished or merely closed. The foot ring is the base of everything. It affects how the piece sits, how it feels in the hand, and how it looks to anyone who knows ceramics. Here is how to do it properly.]]></description>
    <pubDate>2025-11-20</pubDate>
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