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Roy Minarai | Episode 954
Roy Minarai began experimenting with making glazes and soon found that he enjoyed the process of making, testing, tweaking, and layering glazes as much as he liked making pots. Not long into making Roy was contacted by a leading expert in bonsai ceramics Ryan Bell, whose blog japanesebonsaipots.com is the largest most comprehensive database of potters marks, as well as wealth of information on bonsai ceramics. Ryan became a huge encouragement and soon asked about doing an interview. The rest is history.
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Has testing been one of the major keys to your growth?
Yes, testing is the bane of my existence and part of the reason for it. All in one, absolutely.
You have restricted yourself to making one kind of pot. Have the restrictions been the reason you have been able to flourish so beautifully?
Maybe it’s allowed me to devote all of my time in a very applied focus, rather than applying little bits of time into wide areas of focus.
Can an online family become a real support system during hard times?
Absolutely. I don’t think it’s a replacement but I do think it’s an amazing addition. If all you had was online I don’t know how well you would do, but man, having both is really, really amazing.
During the hard times what was the most significant thing anyone said or did for you or your family?
I don’t think it’s one thing, I think it’s…this is what I learned. I learned that your presence matters. I used to think when someone was going through a hard time, when there are tons of people…on the night of her accident we were told that no more people can come because it was packed on the floor of the surgical waiting center. And I used to think when something like that is going on people’s heads aren’t there they are thinking about the person back in surgery, they won’t notice if you are there or not. I can remember every person that was there. I remember the things they said but more than that I remember thinking, These people love me enough and care about me enough to interrupt their life and come and be here even though there’s nothing they can do but be here.
Do you ever see your self becoming a John Britt type person?
John and Matt Katz are the GOATS no one is going to beat them (laughter) but one thing I do try to do is…I don’t always give away formulas but one thing I try to do is give people a starting formula and point people into a direction of experimenting to where they can create the glaze that they are looking for. But they are going to have to work and learn in the process and I think the value in that is if I give the a glaze recipe they would make one glaze. If I give them a starting point and point them in the right direction and help them along the way that translates into the next glaze that they create and the next glaze they want to create. And pretty soon they have attained enough knowledge in creating glazes that they can, within reason, create just about anything they want.
What is your favorite tool?
I’ve got to say the immersion blender. Although they don’t last very long when you mix a lot of glazes with them. So if you can go to yard sales, I have people looking for immersion blenders for me. I know this is not acceptable to do but I don’t screed any of my glazes. I mix them with an immersion blender and let them sit and mix them again and they go straight on to test tiles and straight onto pots. It does provide a little bit of variability within the glaze and I actually enjoy that.
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Instagram: @roy_minarai