On Sunday, Sept. 28, the 3rd session of the Yui’s Pottery Project was carried out. The fired dishes were shown for the first time and it was also time to pack and get ready to give away the “Sakura-motif cups”. The first thing of the day was to take out the vessels from the kiln. The vessels that were glazed in the previous session had become glossy and transparent. The texture had transformed from a clayish one to a hard, porcelaneous one. The participants stared at their creations as they came out of the kiln, touched and felt around with their hands checking out the forms. They seemed to be appreciating the changes between before and after the firing. To complete, a base was carefully attached to each one and then it was show time. Everyone took pictures of the vessels, shared comments with one another, and talked about which parts they took special care in the making. Compared to the very first session, there was more conversation among the participants. At the photo session, each pair combined each other’s vessel to make it one “Yui’s pottery”. A beautiful smile was on everyone’s face. Next, it was preparing for the gift presenting. This is a new attempt that has been introduced this year. Each participant will carefully pack their vessel and write a thoughtful invitation letter for a party to be held on Oct. 19 and send them to the person that they wish to give their creation to. Some have chosen their spouse, but everyone has chosen a special person to whom they would like to give their creation, and they all seemed to be enjoying the process, making the session a very cozy and friendly one. When they had finished packing, some said, “I’m going to miss my work, which was finished only a moment ago.” At the end of the session, we asked the participants to comment on their work and the making process. The most impressive was “I’ve made the one and only piece in the world”. Finally, the staff thanked the participants for taking part and mentioned the sense of achievement we felt for accomplishing what we had done. I felt that today’s activity embraced many aspects of the reconstruction. Everyone went home with a smile. The pottery workshop came to an end today. The staff held many meetings trying to solve problems in order to make it a successful event, and we are very glad that there were no major troubles and we were able to achieve what we set out to do. The next event will be the party on Oct. 19. Everyone will bring along the dishes they had made, good food will be prepared and we hope to make it an enjoyable event for both the participants and the staff! (Noguchi, 3rd Year at School of Art & Design)