Clay Times Magazine Volume 22 • Issue 101

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Volume 22 • No. 101 SPRING / SUMMER 2016

Kevin Snipes: 2D Meets 3D

Handbuilding the Yunomi with Chandra DeBuse Clear Choices: Glazes to Enhance Underglazes Protective Gear for Pregnant Potters State of Clay 2016 Dennis Meiners: Drawing and Sculpting Relief Patterns on Clay

PLUS: Sheri Leigh O’Connor’s Visual Stance on Gun Control

$8.95 U.S./$10.95 CAN

La Mesa Exhibition at Kansas City NCECA

Earline Green’s clay spirit quilts on display in the Dunbar Lancaster-Kiest Branch Library in Dallas, Texas.

A Texas potter makes 1,300 pound quilts with her Paragon Dragon As a child, Earline Green made hand-stitched quilts with her grandmother Mama Freddie. Earline spent more time quilting with the older ladies than she did playing with children her own age. Her early experiences with the lively quilters taught her a life-long love of artwork.

Earline’s other grandmother, Mama Ginger, taught her advanced quilting patterns. Later this influenced the design of Earline’s stoneware quilt tile mosaics displayed in the entrance of the Paul Laurence Dunbar Lancaster-Kiest Library in Dallas, Texas. For that project, Earline fired 284 white stoneware tiles—all in her faithful Paragon Dragon.

“The Dragon's design and controls are perfect for firing large flat pieces,” said Earline. “The digital programming controls provide a consistent firing environment that eliminated cracks and warpage in this project.

“During tile production, I fired my Dragon two or three times a week for four to six weeks at a time.

I expected and received excellent results with each firing.”

Contact us today for more information on the exciting Dragon kiln. Ask about the easy-open switch box hinged at the bottom. Call us for the name of your local Paragon distributor.

Earline Green with her Paragon Dragon front-loading kiln. This kiln is becoming a favorite with potters. It is easy to load, heavily insulated, and designed to reach cone 10 with power to spare.

Join the Clayart pottery forum here: lists.clayartworld.com

Constantly looking for better ways to make kilns

2011 South Town East Blvd.

Mesquite, Texas 75149-1122 800-876-4328 / 972-288-7557 www.paragonweb.com info@paragonweb.com

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Copyright ©2016 Clay Times, LLC. All rights reserved. The material contained herein is derived from various sources and does not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. All technical material is offered as general information only and should not be acted upon without expert supervision. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

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These whimsical works by cover artist Kevin Snipes (pictured, opposite page) masterfully integrate 2D narrative drawings with 3D ceramic vessels.

Turn to page 14 for the story behind the forms.

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SPRING / SUMMER 2016 Volume 22, No. 101 Cover photo: Narrative vessel by Kevin Snipes. See more of his work on opposite page and in article that begins on page 14 Cover inset photo: Teabowl by Dennis Meiners. Story begins on page 31

features ➤ 14 Kevin Snipes Brings 2D & 3D Together Discover how cover artist Kevin Snipes masterfully integrates 2D narrative drawings with 3D ceramic vessels, and what drives him to make these forms. ➤ 31 Dennis Meiners’ Life in Clay After 45 years, this accomplished clay artist brings his pots to life with realistic hand-painted images and relief patterns made from carved sprig molds ➤ 39 Mexican Encaustic Tiles True, these tiles aren’t fired — but they are comprised of clay! Discover what goes into the traditional process of encaustic tile making with a peek into the family studio of a San Miguel, Mexico tile artist.

Featured cover artist, Kevin Snipes, in his Georgia studio

➤ 42 Kentucky Fried Gun Control Sheri Leigh O’Connor sends us a message with her ceramic mockery of guns in today’s U.S. society.

exhibits ➤ 12 2016 State of Clay This annual juried exhibition features a wide variety of works by current and former Massachusetts clay artists.

Potential by Chris Staley — One of numerous place settings featured in the La Mesa 2016 show March 16-19

➤ 24 La Mesa at 50th NCECA Santa Fe Clay hosts its 12th annual show devoted to functional tableware at this year’s 50th anniversary NCECA conference in Kansas City, Missouri.

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Clay Spring / Summer 2016 • Volume 22 Issue 101

departments

columns

9 WHAT’S HOT

17 AS FAR AS I KNOW “Clear Choices: Which Formulas Produce Which Underglaze Effects?”

by Pete Pinnell

Clay world news, events, and calls for entries

17 GREAT GLAZES We gave an extra page to Pete Pinnell for his ‘Clear Choice’ base glaze formulas!

21 BENEATH THE SURFACE “Handbuilding the Yunomi Cup with Chandra DeBuse”

by Lana Wilson

28 THE SLURRY BUCKET Studio-tested tips & techniques

29 STUDIO HEALTH AND SAFETY

34 THE GALLERY

“Safety Gear for Pregos”

by Monona Rossol

Our readers share images of their compelling clayworks

36 KILNS & FIRING “Understanding Valve Fitting Capacities”

by Marc Ward

44 CLASSIFIED MARKETPLACE Goods and services offered especially by and for clay artists

37 TOOL TIMES “Buy Quality — Seek Originality”

by Vince Pitelka

47 POTTERY CLASSES Where you can learn claywork in your own community

45 BOOKS & VIDEOS “The Philosophy of Our Craft:” Four book reviews

by Steve Branfman

50 ADVERTISER INDEX Welcome to the new advertisers in this issue!

(As always, please let them know you found them in Clay Times!)

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CTSpring2016.PressFinal.indd 6

49 AROUND THE FIREBOX Pictured, from top of page: Tree 1 by Steve Winberg; Beach Stone Vessel 2 by Paula Barry; Amphitheater by Mike Roche — all part of State of Clay 2016. See more on p. 12-13.

“Embracing Failure”

by David Hendley

3/7/16 10:49 PM

7 7

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Hot Stuff I Calendar

What’s Hot • ceramic art world news • events • • calls for entries • Santa Fe Clay will again host its annual La Mesa tableware show at NCECA 2016 in Kansas City, Mo.

Conferences

Calls for Entries

‰ CCACA, the California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art, takes place in Davis, California from Apr. 29 to May 1. The event will feature demonstrations, lectures, and exhibitions dedicated to the field of ceramic sculpture. Planned are 45 major shows including the John Natsoulas Gallery’s annual “30 Sculptors” exhibition.

‰ Chelsea River Gallery is accepting entries through Mar. 28 for its 8th annual Sculpturewalk Chelsea exhibition, to take place June 2016 through May 2017. Twelve sculptures will be juried into the exhibit and installed on concrete pads in outdoor locations of historic downtown Chelsea, Michigan (located 14 miles west of Ann Arbor). Online and print brochures will be provided to the public to inspire self-guided walking tours of the exhibit.

Guided docent tours will also be available. For complete details, log onto www.chelsearivergallery. com or call 734.433.0826.

Also slated are several local exhibitions, along with more than 40 college shows within easy walking distance of each other. Featured artists for this year’s event include Christa Assad, Clayton Bailey, Susan Beiner, Paul Mathieu, Beth Lo, Michael Lucero, and James Tyler. For complete programming and registration details, log onto http://natsoulas.com/ccaca-2016/ or call the Natsoulas Gallery at 530.756.3938 ‰ Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia will host the Women Working with Clay Symposium from June 13 to 16.

‰ Clay artists ages 18 and up who live in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, or Texas are invited to submite their entries to VisionMakers 2016 by April 1.

All works must be original and completed within the past two years by artists who are not degree-seeking students.The show takes place Oct. 7-Nov. 19, 2016 in Tulsa, OK. For further details, log onto http://108contemporary.org/2016visionmakers or call 918.895.6302. continued on next page

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

The gathering will feature demonstrations, lectures, and panel discussions that explore the historical connections of women as vessel makers, artists, and artisans. Guest presenters include Syd Carpenter, Michelle Erickson, Liz Quackenbush, and Tara Wilson. Louise Cort of the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery will serve as keynote speaker. Silvie Granatelli will deliver the closing lecture. For further details and registration information, log onto www.hollins.edu/tmva or call 540.362.6021.

‰ The Clay Studio of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is accepting entries through April 1 for its Annual National Juried Exhibition, to take place May 6 through June 19. For complete details, log onto www.theclaystudio.org, or call 215.925.3453.

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Hot Stuff I Calendar

What’s Hot (continued from p. 9)

‰ The Cub Creek Foundation in Lynchburg, Virginia is accepting entries through April 1 of claywork by persons ages 18-30 for Emerging Ceramic Artists, to take place June 1 to June 25, 2016. For more information, log onto www. cubcreek.org or call 434.248.5074. ‰ The Kirkland Arts Center is accepting entries through April 8 of works that utilize clay as the primary medium for its sixth biennial international contemporary exhibition, Clay VI. The show, to be juried by University of Washington professors Doug Jeck, Jamie Walker, and Michael Swaine, will take place June 18 through Sept. 10. Log onto www. kirklandartscenter.org for complete details on the show and a link to download the application, or call 425.822.7161, ext. 102 for additional information. ‰ The Workhouse Arts Center is accepting ceramic entries from U.S. and Canadian residents through May 4 for its Workhouse Clay International 2016. The exhibition, to be juried

by Jack Troy, will take place Aug. 13 - Oct. 16 in Lorton, Virginia. To learn more, log onto www. workhouseceramics.org or call 703.584.2982.

A SILVER CITY ARTS & CULTURAL DISTRICT SIGNATURE EVENT

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‰ The General Gomez Gallery of Auburn, California is accepting flower-themed art of all kinds through May 4 for its second annual flower-inspired show entitled Blooming II, to take place May 20 through June 18. Log onto http://www. generalgomez.com/uncategorized/blooming-2016 -entry-form/ to download the application, or call 530.745.4230 for more information. ‰ The Kansas City Clay Guild is accepting entries of ceramic teabowls made by adult U.S. residents through May 6 for its Teabowl National, to take place Aug. 26 - Sept. 16.

For complete details, log onto http://teabowl national.weebly.com or call 816.363.1373. ‰ Clay Arts Vegas is accepting entries through May 23 of functional and sculptural tableware made by adult U.S. and Canadian clay artists for Serve It Up 2016, to take place June 30 - Aug. 28 at the Victor F. Keen Gallery in Las Vegas, Nevada. Questions call 702.375.4147,

at

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‰ Claywork measuring no more than 8" in any dimension, or no less than 24" in any dimension, will be accepted through May 27 for the 2016 Clay National XI: The Intimacy of Scale. The exhibition of small works will be at one gallery, while the large works will be exhibited at another. Both shows will take place Aug. 5 - 26 in Carbondale, Colorado. To learn more, log onto http:// carbondaleclay.org/gallery.html or call 970.963.2529. ‰ The Salt Spring Potters Guild of Canada is accepting entries through May 31 from claywork by artists residing in Vancouver Island and The Gulf Islands, BC, for the Salt Spring Island Ceramics Awards. More than $4200 in prizes will be awarded to clay artists in two categories: emerging artists and established artists. For full details on the event, which takes place Oct. 6 to 16, log onto https://salt springpottersguild.com/ceramics-awards, where you can download a prospectus. ‰ Entries for the 2016 Strictly Functional Pottery National, to take place Sept. 17 through Oct. 22, are being accepted through June 1. All works must be functional and made by U.S. artists. The juror for this year’s event, the 24th annual show, is Simon Leach. For entry details and application, log onto www.strictlyfunctionalpottery.net, or call 717.509.7547 if you have questions.

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To list your events, clay conferences, calls for entries, exhibitions, or ceramic news items in Clay TimesÂŽ, please e-mail complete details to: claytimes@gmail.com, or click the submission link at www.claytimes.com/contribute.html

Paducah, Kentucky • UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art

WKCTC is an equal educational and employment opportunity institution.

CLAYTIMES¡COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

‰ The Wayne Art Center of Wayne, Pennsylvania is accepting entries through Sept. 14 for Craft Forms 2016, its 22nd International Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Fine Craft. The show, to take place Dec. 2, 2016 through Jan. 28, 2017, will feature media of all kinds and will offer more than $8,000 in awards to artists. For details and the online entry form, log onto www.craftforms entry.org or call 610.688.3553 x 211 for more information. [

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CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

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Calyx Crater by Paul Briggs, to be featured with works on opposite page as part of State of Clay 2016 in Lexington, Massachusetts.

More images from the upcoming show appear on page 6.

State of Clay 2016

T

he year 2016 is the 20th year of the State of Clay exhibition.

This is the 9th biennial show, with an additional two invitational shows that were held at the Fuller Craft Museum in 2006 and 2015.

Presented by the Lexington Arts and Crafts Society, State of Clay is the only juried show in Massachusetts that showcases works by clay artists who come from all over the state.

Works by former residents who reside

elsewhere in the U.S. — plus works by a few former residents who now live abroad — are also featured.

This year’s exhibition takes place May 7 - June 5, and features a wide variety of works selected by juror Wayne Higby, professor at the NY State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. On May 20, Higby will personally award prizes to the makers of pieces he considered to be the most outstanding.

Besides showcasing the artists and their work, the show educates the public about the vitality and growth of ceramic art within Massachusetts.

For further details on the show, log onto www.stateofclay.com [

Striped Creamer Set by Jeremy Ayers.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

Yellow Boat by Jill Soloman.

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meets

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

2D

3D

BY JORIE BERMAN

Kevin Snipes

wants us to wonder what came first — the drawing, or the form?

It is an engaging challenge for him to find imagery in the forms that he constructs. He draws regularly in his sketchbook to work on ideas, but the drawings don’t get transferred directly onto clay.

Rather, he prefers to improvise so that the imagery remains fresh and specific to each form.

Kevin thinks a lot about the tension between opposites, and the relationship between self and other. He subscribes to the overall philosophy that we know ourselves by knowing what or whom we are not. We distinguish our character, preferences, and tastes by defining, categorizing, and labeling. He says, “We discriminate to know who we are — but it can end up messy.” Kevin is African American, but he does not want to make “black” work. He is, however, interested in revealing differences and starting dialogues about what it means to be “other.”

Kevin draws on hard-leather-hard (nearly bone dry) porcelain, often with an exacto knife. He uses a combination of mishima and sgraffito techniques to achieve the color and line quality that he strives for. The process of mishima involves carving fine lines into leather-hard clay, filling the etched lines with underglaze, and then scraping away the excess underglaze with a rib. Sgraffito is the opposite — one paints underglaze on to leather-hard clay, and then carves away lines or shapes to reveal the clay color beneath. By using these techniques in tandem, Kevin is able to layer drawings by adding and subtracting line, shape, and color until he is satisfied with the outcome.

The work is constructed from porcelain slabs that are rolled with a rolling pin on a flat, porous, nontextured (no canvas) table. When the porcelain slabs have reached the right consistency — sturdy enough to hold a form, but not so dry that they can’t be nudged into curves without cracking — Kevin builds the forms. He often uses scratchboard templates to quickly test out ideas before attempting a form in clay. He does this simply by cutting shapes out of the scratchboard (four shapes for a four-sided vessel) and taping them together.

If he doesn’t like the form, he can make alterations easily, without having invested the time it would take to build the piece out of clay. continued on next page

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

The majority of Kevin’s work is vessel-based, and has distinct flat sides, each of which contains a narrative and/or abstract drawing. Word bubbles with single words or short phrases often accompany the drawings. Each side of the vessel acts as a blank canvas on which Kevin draws.

Although no side is the “back,” Kevin sets up a relationship between “this” and “that” by placing figures and objects on sides opposite from each other. The notion of the vessel is important to the work because the interior space signifies the potential between these characters. Are they friends … enemies … lovers?

Nearly anything could happen between them.

The bright colors and funky shapes draw the viewer into this seemingly playful world where ice cream cones are animated and Pez guys are nearly life size! At close inspection, however, the viewer notices that the figures are solitary, and sometimes those ice cream cones (which are reminiscent of pre-Civil Rights Movement blackface minstrels) are crying. Kevin enjoys including imagery that is simultaneously funny and disturbing — he wants the work to “sneak up on you.”

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Kevin uses Speedball underglazes for the mishima and sgraffito drawings. Once the drawings are complete and the work is bisque-fired to cone 06, Kevin paints on translucent glazes and fires the work to cone 6 in an electric kiln.

Kevin Snipes (continued from previous page)

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

As a child, Kevin always knew he wanted to be an artist. Like many boys, his earliest art influence came in the form of comics. He thought he would be the next Charles Schulz! He loved drawing, making paper airplanes and constructing cardboard boats, and he also recalls being totally engaged by the images and text on cereal boxes while eating his breakfast. In addition to being influenced by the comics of his youth, Kevin finds inspiration in the work of Robert Crum, Kirk Mangus, and Picasso, as well as children’s books from the 1950s and ’60s and old textbooks with informational diagrams.

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Kevin graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art with a BFA in Ceramics and Drawing in 1994, and received an MFA in Ceramics from the University of Florida in 2003. He has participated in a number of artist residency programs, including the Worcester Center for Crafts, in Worcester, Massachusetts; the Clay Studio, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Watershed Center for the Arts, in New Castle, Maine; the Archie Bray Foundation, in Helena, Montana; and CRETA, in Rome, Italy. Kevin currently resides in Athens, Georgia, where is an artist in residence at the University of Georgia’s Lamar Dodd School of Art. [ See more of Kevin’s work at kevinsnipes.com, or follow him on Instagram @hollowfingers

Clear Choices: Not All Clear Glazes Are the Same

PART TWO OF A SERIES • by PETE PINNELL

E

very potter has a favorite clear glaze recipe, but often just one. Clear glazes can seem kind of boring (compared with other glazes), so most people find one that meets the minimum requirements (doesn’t craze or run) and then don’t give it much more thought.

However, clear glazes can be just as varied as any other kind of glaze. In this article, I’m going to present three successful clear glazes, each of which has very different qualities.

These aren’t necessarily the “best” glazes at anything — they each have specific strengths and weaknesses. I’m presenting these to provide you with my thought process for evaluating them, as much as to provide you with the glaze recipes themselves.

I then translated that formula into a recipe made from

contemporary materials. Surprisingly, it worked quite well and looked a lot like those Chinese examples from the 18th century.

Once I got out of school, I ended up rounding the ingredient percentages (to make the glaze easier to mix) and found that it worked just the same. It’s a recipe that many potters use today.

From a chemical standpoint, this formula is what potters might call a “high lime” glaze. Most of the fluxing is done with calcium oxide (“lime” in traditional potter’s language, since potters used to use “quicklime” or “burnt lime” for this), with potassium oxide and sodium continued on next page

Pete’s Clear Glaze Cone 9-12 oxidation or reduction 25% 35 20 20

Potash Feldspar* Silica Whiting Grolleg China Clay TOTAL

100%

* I've used Custer Feldspar (both old and new), G200, and G200 HP. All work, but they have slightly different qualities. for Pete’s Celadon, add:

Tin Oxide Barium Carbonate Barnard Clay

1% 2% 3%

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

The first glaze is one that many potters know as “Pete’s Clear”.

I formulated this glaze when I was a graduate student in the early ’80s. I had long admired the clear glazes on Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912) Chinese porcelain, and discovered that there were published chemical analyses that had been done from shards.

I collected a number of analyses, discarded those that seemed anomalous, and averaged the others.

Image 1: Pete’s Clear Glaze. The left tile is fired to cone 6 in oxidation and is melted, but not yet mature. The three right-hand tiles are fired to cone 10 in reduction and have a progressively thicker glaze application (single-, double-, and triple-dipped). As you can see, the glaze doesn’t cause any smearing of the underglaze, but it does obscure the lines as it becomes thicker.

17

Perspectives I As Far As I Know

Clear Choices (continued from previous page)

oxide (the alkali metal fluxes) playing a secondary role. It has a relatively high alumina level, so it’s very stiff (it never runs). Its fairly high silica level means that it achieves a glassy surface.

This glaze is a bluish-clear on Grolleg porcelain, and is very durable. I have pie plates that I made with this glaze more than 30 years ago. These pots have taken numerous trips through the dishwasher and been scraped by countless knives, yet the surface is still in remarkably good condition.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

This glaze has a good resistance to crazing, and a good color response over colored slips or underglazes. If you look at the test tiles in illustration 1, you’ll see that there are three diagonal lines on each tile.

These are slip-trailed lines made from a commercial black cone 6 underglaze that contains cobalt. These are included to show if the glaze causes smearing or moving in the underglaze. As you can see, this glaze does not: the black underglaze lines are unchanged by the glaze. That’s not surprising; the Chinese glaze that I was copying was formulated to go over cobalt decoration, and they wanted those images to remain sharp.

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As always, there is no perfect glaze. This one is stiff enough that flaws in application won’t tend to heal. I have to do a very good job of applying the glaze (I pour interiors and dip exteriors). Any drip has to be dried and gently scraped off, or it will definitely show after the firing.

In addition, it doesn’t have a particularly wide firing range. It may not be clear in the photograph, that although the sample fired to cone 6 is melted, it is not mature. It would probably need to reach cone 8 before it would be reliably mature, though I know that it can go to at least cone 12 and not be over-fired.

On a final note, there’s a variation of this glaze floating around called Pete’s Celadon.

It’s this same recipe, but with the addition of 1% Tin Oxide, 2% Barium Carbonate, and 3% Barnard Clay. The glaze has a beautiful light celadon-blue color in reduction. It’s not my recipe (I believe it may have originated with Peter Beasecker) but it is very nice, and I wouldn’t hesitate to use it. [Yes, there is a slightly elevated toxicity issue with the raw barium carbonate, but once the glaze is fired, it would be chemically stable and resistant to any acid or alkali leaching.]

One of the perks of giving away recipes is that other people take my efforts and tweak them to make them better. This is a very nice celadon on a Grolleg Porcelain body.

Pete’s HG Clear The second clear glaze that I’d like to discuss is one that I call HG Clear. The name came from a series of tests that I ran about 10 years ago. The initials don’t mean anything — they were just part of a series labeled with letters and numbers.

This glaze is much like the Pete’s Clear. It has similar Alumina and Silica levels, so it’s

also a stiff glaze with a glassy surface. It’s also a durable glaze that has a good fit (meaning it doesn’t tend to craze).

Pete’s HG Clear Cone 6-12 oxidation or reduction

Ferro Frit 3124 Kona F-4 Feldspar Talc Wollastonite Grolleg China Clay Silica TOTAL

18 % 15 6 13 23 25 100 %

Chemically speaking, one difference between the two glazes is that part of the Calcium Oxide is replaced with Magnesium Oxide (from the Talc). Both of these are Alkaline Earths (on the periodic table of elements) so they both fill the same role in a glaze, and have similar characteristics.

However, Magnesium Oxide has a lower thermal expansion in a glassy glaze, so this glaze is a bit more craze-resistant than the Pete’s Clear. Magnesium oxide can also alter the color response of some colorants, so it would be good to test this before mixing a big bucket.

The other difference is that this glaze contains Boron, which it gets from the Ferro frit. A frit is a manufactured material — a finely ground glass that’s formulated to have specific properties. Boron tends to broaden the firing range of a glaze, bringing the low end of maturity down while not significantly lowering the upper

limit. This glaze is completely mature at cone 6, but doesn’t move at cone 12. Boron can make a glaze less durable if it’s used in large amounts, but I haven’t noticed problems with smaller levels like this.

As you can see in the image above, slip lines are unchanged with a thinner application of glaze, but there is some smearing of cobalt in a thicker application (double and triple dips).

If you intend to apply a thick layer of this (or any) glaze that has more than 15% clay, then you should calcine (fire to 1000° F) some of the clay and substitute that for some of the raw clay. That will help prevent crawling.

Some may wonder why both the HG Clear and the Pete’s Clear use Grolleg, rather than a domestic kaolin, such as EPK. That’s because EPK tends to give a greener color in a clear reduction glaze, while Grolleg tends to give a bluer tone. This

is due to trace amounts of titania in domestic kaolins. I happen to prefer the blue, but you could certainly substitute EPK if you prefer the green. It’s a matter of taste.

Pete’s Moving Clear The final glaze I’m sharing is one that’s fairly new. It’s what I call a smearing glaze: it causes underglaze color to smear and move during the firing.

Pete’s Moving Clear (glaze formula and image appear on following page) has a lower alumina level, so it can tend to run if it’s applied too thick, but it doesn’t run at all in a thin or medium application. The lower alumina level is key to making the underglaze smear. Like the HG, it will move or smear continued on next page

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

There are some small impurities in the raw materials that make it appear as slightly bluish clear in reduction. In oxidation it’s a bit creamier over porcelain, but not in a bad way. Over the years, I’ve used this glaze in mid-range oxidation firings as well as high-fire reduction firing. It’s a beautiful, durable, practical glaze.

Like the Pete’s Clear, the HG Clear is stiff enough in the firing that application has to be done carefully or drips will show. It can also tend to crawl a bit when it’s given a thick application; that’s because it has a high clay content (the Grolleg in the recipe).

Perspectives I As Far As I Know

Image 2: Pete’s HG Clear. The left tile was fired to cone 6 in oxidation and is completely glossy and mature. The three right-hand tiles are fired to cone 10 in reduction and have a progressively thicker glaze application (single-, double-, and triple-dipped). The underglaze moves and is obscured as the glaze becomes thicker. The glaze on the right-hand tile also crawled in one small section in response to the very thick application. The color of the glaze fired in reduction shifts progressively from blue to green in thicker applications.

19

Perspectives I As Far As I Know

Clear Choices (continued from previous page)

Image 3: Pete’s Moving Clear. This glaze causes the underglaze to smear at all temperatures and thicknesses, but it does so more with a thicker application. It can also run at high temperatures with a thick application.

The right three tiles are fired to cone 10 in reduction, while the far left tile is fired to cone 6 in oxidation.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

a lot more when the glaze has a thicker application, but it’s pretty easy to get an application that will smear the underglaze without running at all. A higher boron level (from the frit) makes it very tolerant of firing temperature: it’s completely mature at cone 5, and easily fires to cone 10.

20

It will also work in either oxidation or reduction, though like many high-frit glazes it can become a bit yellowed when applied thick and fired in reduction. The good side of the high frit glaze is that it doesn’t have to be applied very thick at all and it will still produce a good coating. This is because a frit is (essentially) a pre-fired material, so it has already had its firing shrinkage. A thin layer can cover quite well.

Pete’s Moving Clear is is VERY shiny, with an almost flawless, mirror-like surface. That’s because the low alumina and the relatively high boron levels give it a lower surface tension, allowing the surface to heal during the firing.

It’s also formulated with materials that don’t outgas during the firing,

which contributes to a good surface quality.

I don’t have a long history with this glaze (compared with either of the others) but I wouldn’t expect it to be nearly as craze-resistant or as durable; low-alumina glazes never are.

In fact, if I were going to use this on pots for daily use, I’d apply this on the outside only and use a different, more durable glaze on the inside.

So … which of these is the best clear? That depends on the specific glaze qualities you want to accent your work.

This is precisely my point: you can easily collect a variety of glazes and, with a few simple tests, learn what qualities they have. You can then use them appropriately for the situation and the characteristics you want to achieve.

The tiles in these images are extruded square tubes that are fired upright to check movement. The section of tile shown in each image is about 1¼" wide by just under 2½" tall. [

Pete’s Moving Clear Cone 5-11 oxidation or reduction Ferro Frit 3134 Spodumene* Kona F-4 Feldspar Talc Wollastonite EPK Silica TOTAL

21 % 9 7 3 22 20 18 100 %

* Pete uses Gwalia Spodumene from Australia.

In our next issue of Clay Times, I’ll continue this subject and provide you with additional opportunities for achieving rich and beautiful surfaces from an electric kiln.

Peter Pinnell is Hixson-Lied Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. E-mail him at ppinnell1@unl.edu or contact him via his Facebook page at www.facebook.com.

Part Two: Making the Yunomi Cup

by LANA WILSON

Perspectives I Beneath the Surface

Handbuilding with Chandra DeBuse

Pictured art: Two views of a yunomi cup by Chandra DeBuse.

Lana Wilson: Look at the puffed out shapes near the bottom of the Yunomi cup above. I never knew craft foam could be so helpful in creating a definition line that yields a clean, puffed-out shape on a clay form.

She elaborates: “Approaching clay in this manner is a simple way to turn sketchbook twodimensional drawings into ceramic three-dimensional forms. I love how

A yunomi is a Japanese winter tea bowl that is taller than it is wide.

W

hen making the yunomi, DeBuse uses craft foam and cuts out a flexible

stamp to define where she wants puffed-out shapes that appeal to the eyes and the hands during use.

She designs the shapes of each of the craft foam “negative” molds with her surface decoration in mind.

These techniques have become important in her studio process where she relates form and surface.

But be aware that she begins with 2-D drawings and translates some of those 2-D areas into 3-D convex shapes. continued on next page

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

Chandra DeBuse’s go-to way to start a form is by pushing clay into a negative space.

a two-dimensional shape can become three-dimensional by gently pushing the clay to stretch it into the negative shape cut out of craft foam. The following cup form shows variations on this idea, using different materials and methods of pushing clay into a negative space.”

21

Perspectives I Beneath the Surface

Making Chandra DeBuse’s Yunomi, Step-by-step

1

2

3

4

5

6

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

Step 1: Forming

22

Center 1 lb. 4 oz. of clay on the wheel, and pull into an hourglass shape. DeBuse uses a smooth white stoneware, such as Laguna B Mix cone 5, and she glaze-fires it to cone 6.

Step 2: Use a metal rib to smooth out the throwing lines and remove the excess slip from the pot exterior.

Step 3: Using craft foam as a flexible stamp — Cut shapes into a strip of craft foam (variations shown in foreground) and put the craft foam cut-out form on the cup while the clay is wet on the wheel. As long as

the thrown form is wet enough to be tacky, the craft foam will stick to the side of the cup. Use the inside fingers to gently coax the clay into the negative-shaped spaces of the craft foam template, while simultaneously using the outside hand to apply gentle stabilizing pressure to the craft foam edges.

(See right hand middle finger pressing against the craft foam on the outside of the pot in the image.) Rotate the cup and continue pushing out into the negative shape of the craft foam all the way around the form.

Step 4: Remove excess clay from the base of the cup, and remove the craft foam template. Use a wire tool to cut the cup off the bat. Let the cup dry for trimming.

Step 5: Trimming — When the cup is ready to be trimmed, place it upside down and center it on a foam bat, which grips the form. Apply slight downward pressure from the hand to keep the form in place without clay wads. A Surform® tool is helpful for early trimming of the base of the cup, especially if there are uneven textures. Use a trimming tool to complete the removal of excess clay

Step 6: Lobing the foot — Cut a circle out of a piece of paper. If you fold it in half three times and unfold, you will have divided the circle into eight equal shapes. Use the paper to aid in dividing the foot into eight equal shapes for lobing. Use a knife to make eight V-notches in the foot, as well as to shape the lobes. Use a slightly dampened sponge to smooth the feet and the exterior of the cup.

Step 7: Fine-line underglaze inlay — Apply a water-soluble and fast-drying wax, such as Forbes Wax from Highwater Clays, to the outer surface of the cup. Allow the wax to dry. Use an X-acto knife to carve fine lines 1 mm deep (there are about 25 mm in an inch!) into the waxed clay surface. Brush a watery underglaze over the incised lines. I use AMACO Velour Black that has been watered down slightly. The wax resists the underglaze, causing it to bead up on the surface, but it does sink into the incised lines.

7

Cone 6 Oxidation

by Eric Mirabito Silica 20% Nepheline Syenite 20 Whiting 20 EPK 20 Frit 3124 20 TOTAL 100% add: Bentonite 2% add: 4% to 7% Mason Stain for color

8

9

I also love Stroke-and-Coats by Mayco for pops of intense color.

I have been really enjoying Cutie Pie Coral and Orange-A-Peel lately.

I water down the commercial products and use them more like watercolor washes to fill in the lines of my drawings.

Tune in to our next Clay Times issue for a final illustrated, step-by-step look at more aspects of Chandra's creative process. Columnist Lana Wilson may be reached at lana@ lanawilson.com. Lana’s Website for workshop information and images is www.lanawilson.com.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

Note: If you didn’t get to read Part One of this series, the remaining text repeats the color and glaze information from the first part in Clay Times® issue no. 100:

My go-to base glaze is EM Satin (above). It takes color well and fits both my white and red clay bodies.

I like how the surface changes from satin to glossier depending on how quickly the kiln cools.

Amaco Velvet Underglazes have been a studio staple for me. I especially like Chartreuse, Velour Black, and Radiant Red. I use these, along with Mayco Squash Yellow Underglaze, all over the surfaces of my work including the bottoms of my pieces, because they won’t flux out and stick to the kiln shelf at cone 6.

Step 8: Use a clean, slightly dampened sponge to wipe the underglaze off the wax. Let dry, then bisque fire.

Step 9: Glazing — After bisque firing, sand the entire cup [wearing your Niosh-approved respirator, of course], then wash and apply any colored glazes to designated areas.

Use watered-down underglazes to color between the lines as you would in a coloring book. Apply a clear glaze on top (see formula at top right of this page), and make sure there is no glaze on the bottom of the cup. Fire to cone 6. [

EM Satin Glaze

Perspectives I Beneath the Surface

and shape the base and foot ring.

23

Above: Porcelain cups by Karen Massaro.

Below: Stoneware bottle and cup set by Todd Volz.

24

Wood-fired stoneware place setting by Simon Levin.

Santa Fe Clay • PRESENTS •

La Mesa 2016

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

marks the twelfth year that Santa Fe Clay has hosted a unique showing of dinnerware called “La Mesa” during the annual conference of the National Council on Education for Ceramic Art. Thousands of people have attended this spectacular banquet table display of more than continued on next page Wood-fired stoneware pitcher by Bede Clark.

25

La Mesa Exhibition (from previous page)

150 place settings made by artists from across the United States.

La Mesa (Spanish for “The Table”) will be on display March 16-19 at the Central Exchange in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

Again this year, this invitational exhibit highlights many of the established masters in our field, and introduces talented emerging artists as well.

For further details on the show, e-mail Avra Leodas at sfc@santafeclay.com [

At left: Wood-fired oval teapot and cup by Blair Meerfield.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

Below: Glazed earthenware place setting by Joseph Pintz.

26

La Mesa 2012, Santa Fe Clay.

Wood-fired stoneware jar by Jack Troy.

Porcelain place setting by Mike Jabbur.

27

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Bowls

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

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I

deally, pregnant women should avoid all potentially toxic substances completely. There are risks at all stages of pregnancy and we are only beginning to understand the effects of tiny amounts of some toxic substances on the developing fetus. Even during breast feeding, there are risks.

[see footnotes 1-3]. In two studies, 22 healthy, non-smoking pregnant women and 22 non-pregnant, nonsmoking women had physiological and subjective measurements taken with and without wearing an N95 mask during exercise and postural sedentary activities over a onehour period.

But when work in the studio is also a person’s primary source of income, compromises may have to be made.

In these cases, personal protective equipment such as a toxic dust mask may be needed.

The Results

The Risks Wearing a toxic dust mask does produce breathing stress, as lungs work to pull air through the filter.

This stress is why the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires employers to provide medical certification for employees who need to wear masks or respirators. In this certification process, a health professional who is trained to evaluate patient questionnaires — and, when necessary, medical test results — will determine if an individual can wear masks and respirators without exacerbating any underlying health conditions.

More importantly, wearing an N95 mask for one hour by healthy pregnant women was not found to have an effect on the fetal heart rate.

Study Limitations The data is encouraging for women who need to work during pregnancy.

But these tests were only an hour in duration, involved a relatively small number of test subjects, the only fetal effect monitored was heart rate, and the women were all healthy. The results should not be extrapolated to 8-hour work days or to work involving additional stress factors, such as lifting or tasks that by themselves greatly increase heart rate.

For example, potential exposure to highly toxic dusts containing metals such as lead, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, and manganese is not appropriate at any level for pregnant women. This means that glaze mixing or any other glaze task that involves dust exposure is not appropriate during pregnancy.

Now is the time to prevail on colleagues, husbands, friends, and/or lovers to do the dusty stuff!

This includes having them clean up the pottery when the tasks are finished so there is no surface dust that will easily become airborne on air currents.

After the dusty tasks are over, working carefully with liquid glazes without creating dust — in a very clean environment, and while keeping the skin mostly free of contact with the glazes — should be a relatively safe activity. Be sure to always change clothes and shoes to avoid bringing any glaze drips and bits into your car or home.

Additional tasks that are definitely off limits include any jobs involving solvents such as paint thinners, alcohols, citrus oil, or any fastdrying organic (based on carbon) liquid. The N95 paper masks do not filter out solvent vapors and the effects of organic vapor cartridge respirators were not studied.

continued on next page

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

Breathing stress may be especially taxing during pregnancy. For this reason, researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) participated in three studies that provide information on wearing an N95 toxic dust mask during pregnancy

The studies show that the effects of wearing N95 masks are mild (average of one breath-per-minute decrease in the breathing rate, two beats-per-minute increase in heart rate, 1 to 7 millimeters (mm) mercury (Hg) increase in diastolic blood pressure, and 1 to 2 mm increase in mean arterial pressure).

These measurements were the same for both pregnant and nonpregnant women.

These studies also did not consider the contaminant that women are using masks to avoid.

Studio I Health & Safety

Studio Safety During Pregnancy

29

Studio I Health & Safety

Studio Safety During Pregnancy (cont. from previous page) If You Wear A Mask

Your Personal Decision

Remember all the rules about wearing masks. Don’t set them out on a counter or hang them in the pottery studio by their straps — EVER! As soon as you take your mask off, put it in a zippertype plastic bag to keep it clean and sanitary.

Deciding whether or not to wear a mask during pregnancy should not be a decision made alone.

If others work in the same pottery studio, ink your initials on the bag. You don’t want someone accidentally sharing your mask.

Also write down the number of hours you have worn the respirator on the baggie. The N95 is only supposed to be used for a total of 8 hours! If the mask becomes filthy, bent out of shape, or damaged in any way, it it should be discarded — even if new.

Your doctor should be in on this discussion from the beginning.

He or she may know of additional risk factors for you personally that were not factored into this study of healthy volunteers.

If, for example, someone already has high blood pressure, the additional 1 to 7 mm of increase in diastolic blood pressure when wearing a mask may not make sense. In fact, this may be something that all people with high blood pressure should consider when planning personal protection.

However, pregnancy is a very special time — a time to remove as many

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

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risks as possible from daily living and working. Enjoy and respect your amazing role as a future mother! [ FOOTNOTES 1. Kim J-H, Roberge RJ, Powell JB. [2015].

Effect of External Airflow Resistive Load on Postural and Exercise-associated Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Responses in Pregnancy. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2015; 15:45-52.

2. Roberge RJ, Kim J-H, Powell JB. [2014] N95 respirator use during advanced pregnancy.

American Journal of Infection Control 42: 1097-1100.

3. Roberge RJ, Kim J-H, Benson SM. [2012] Absence of consequential changes in physiological, thermal and subjective responses from wearing a surgical mask. Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology 181: 29-35.

Monona Rossol is an industrial hygienist/chemist with an M.F.A. in ceramics/glass. E-mail her at: ACTSNYC@cs.com

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Dennis Meiners’ Life in Clay

BY LESLIE LEE AND DENNIS MEINERS PHOTOGRAPHS BY COURTNEY ZIMMERMAN

D

After receiving his Bachelors in Fine Arts, specializing in ceramics, Meiners relocated to Portland, Oregon. There, he held a series of jobs, founded a clay studio in a single-car garage, built a small gas-fired kiln, and

pursued ceramics full-time. He made wheel-thrown utilitarian ware for several years, and then moved on to sculptural vessels for several more. At the same time, he also found himself participating in craft shows across the U.S., and teaching classes and workshops.

In 1990, Meiners and his wife, Leslie Lee — who also at that time was a ceramic artist — purchased a small parcel of land in the Applegate Valley of southern Oregon. This is where they set about building a complex that became known as Hummingbird: a large adobe and strawbale studio and passive solar strawbale house.

Their intention was for the place to be an energy-efficient home, art studio

Pictured, clockwise from top left: Sculpture, pitcher, and teabowl

by Dennis Meiners.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

ennis Meiners was raised on a wheat farm and thought of himself as an artist from his earliest memories. He was fortunate to have a great middle school art teacher who opened his eyes to the possibility of art as a career choice. As a result, he went on to Washington State University with the intention of becoming a painter. That was an uncomfortable fit, however, and Meiners detoured into the ceramics studio. There, he found a home.

31

32

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

Life in Clay (text continued from page 31) & workshop center, and a comfortable spot where those interested in the arts could come and develop their craft.

Meiners and Lee thought, at the outset, the building project would take four or five years. In reality, it took about 15!

Like most adventures, some dreams came true and some did not, and the adventurers were profoundly changed.

Hummingbird was sold in 2012, and Meiners and Lee returned to Portland, where they have established new studios in a welcoming urban setting.

During all those building years, artmaking went on as much as possible, and the work continued to progress.

Meiners’ ceramics moved gradually away from sculpture toward utilitarian work. As of this writing, his work is almost all work for the hand and table.

It is electric-fired with the mindful intention of lowering the firing’s carbon footprint as much as possible.

Meiners has taught at Portland Community College and Oregon College of Art and Craft, led numerous workshops, published articles and photographs in several books and magazines, and shown his ceramics in many group and solo exhibitions. His pieces can be found in a number of public and private collections. Following, in italics, is Meiners’ own description of the process he uses to make his claywork:

Most of my work is hand-built, beginning with stretched slabs on which I create little textural ‘psychodramas’. Designs are

pressed into the surface with rolling stamps and then images are applied over that surface from tiny carved molds called sprigging stamps to create a clay tapestry. I carve all of my stamps and apply celadons over these surfaces to reveal and enhance the story.

An approach that is new to me is the Mishima technique. Mishima pottery comes from the Japanese island of that name, but I think it was originally transported from Korea around the 16th century. With this method I incise drawings in leatherhard clay, then overlay a slip of contrasting color and carefully scrape the excess away to leave the color only in the lines.

This way of working gives me a chance to draw on my pots with a sensitivity very different from brush work. Brushes for me are quick and loose. Mishima is more ‘draftsmanlike’.

When setting up my current studio I began to look for changes I could make to reduce my carbon footprint. Given that I live in the Pacific Northwest where most of our electricity is generated with hydropower and wind, converting from gas to electric firing seemed sensible. Not a big change in the grand scheme of things, and hydro and wind power have their drawbacks, but I need to get the clay hot somehow if I’m going to continue as a potter.”

After 45 years in clay, Dennis Meiners still finds the making of each piece to be a delightful challenge. He is continuously reminded that he has a lot to learn. [

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

“My objective with each piece I make, which I don’t think of while I’m working, is to capture the imaginative moment and give my artist-self a chance to respond on the most fundamental level to that moment. What it comes down to is being fully present. Sometimes I think it’s not about making ceramic objects at all, but the end of my process occasionally presents me with pieces that I and others like and that might make some ongoing difference in peoples’ daily lives.

Pictured here and opposite page: A sampling of Meiners’ life in clay, reflecting his skilled hand-painting and carving abilities.

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Readers Share I Art Works

The Gallery

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

Perspective. 11" x 8". Slipcast stoneware hand-painted with colored slips, fired to 2282° F in an electric kiln. Ismet Yuksel, Dumlupinar University Fine Arts Faculty Ceramic Department, 43000 Kutahya TURKEY. E-mail: smtyksl@yahoo.com; Website: www.ismetyuksel.com

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Submit images of your claywork to The Gallery!

Send your high-quality color print, slide, or 1050-x-1500pixel (minimum) digital image to: The Gallery, Clay Times, P.O. Box 17139, Amelia Island, FL 32035; or e-mail to claytimes@ gmail.com. Be sure to include your name, address, telephone number, and/or5. e-mail address, type of clay and glaze, SkyscraperWebsite Series, Number Handbag.

9" x 8½" x 4". Handbuilt of two stoneware clay bodies; fired to cone 5 electric.

6" x 6" x 30".

Stoneware withdimensions flashing slip of the work. Mia firing method, and (Please enclose a selfMetallic-glazed zippers and clasps; clear-glazed interior; unglazed exterior for “leather” look. andaddressed, natural ash; wood-fired cone 10. if you need photo stamped to envelope or slide returned.)

Giovanni DeFendis, Pocatello, ID. Website: www.def11001.wix.com/defendisceramics#!

Feather accent gray underglaze. Verna Witt, 9903 Heritage Oak Lane, Marvin, NC 28173.

Email: verna@carolina.rr.com; Website: www.marvingardensstudio.com

Readers Share I Art Works

The Gallery

Below the Surface. 12" x 6" x 7". Porcelain with colored pencil and high-fire glaze by Kate Gulikowski. E-mail: kmkuligowski@gmail.com

CLAYTIMES¡COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

Untitled. 7½" x 17" x 5". Salt-fired stoneware with high-fire transparent iron glaze.

Chris Alveshere, 5315 Prairiewood Drive, Bismarck, ND, 58504. E-mail: c.alveshere@gmail.com

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Shop Talk I Firing CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

36

Understanding the Complicated Rating Standards

Valve Fitting Capacities BY marc ward

I

If you have 7" water column of gas pressure (¼ psi), and the pressure drops 1" as it leaves the valve/ burner/fitting, then you can determine the standardized “capacity” of the valve/ burner/fitting. But if you have a far larger orifice that causes 4" water column of drop across the orifice, the If you have a valve, regulator, amount of flow increases or fitting, and it has a dramatically. So, to explain capacity rating, that rating the issue a bit more … is based on a standard: 1" of pressure drop across the If you have a valve that orifice. Trying to explain this is attached to a burner low pressure standard is difficult, even running with a larger orifice and 1" to folks who work at gas water column of pressure companies … they don’t get it! The standardization has drop as the gas leaves the to be made to standardize orifice, that’s the valve’s the numbers. [That’s clear “officially listed” capacity. as mud, right?]

The same valve with very Imagine you have a garden high pressure and a very hose with 50 psi of pressure. small orifice that still has 1" You water your garden with water column of pressure this. What is the capacity drop, displays the same of your hose? Now imagine “officially listed” capacity. you have 5,000 psi of Now, say you put that large, pressure … you can’t even low-pressure orifice in the hold onto this hose, it’s like burner with very high gas trying to hold unto a rocket. pressure, and your pressure Is the capacity of the hose drop across the orifice becomes 35" of drop. The different? Of course it is! amount of flow through Because of this difference and your valve is many, many the difference of how much times greater than the pressure / volume is being “officially listed” capacity. released, capacity has to be The official term for this is standardized. As mentioned “Valve Flow” or “CV”. There above, the standard is 1" are online calculators to water column pressure drop figure this out, and many across the orifice. This is done times, there are charts to make all things equal in a that come with valves, strange, non-equal world — a burners, etc. that show this world that your gas company, relationship. Bottom line: plumber, or inspector often “Capacity” is a standardized mathematical construct — doesn’t understand. recently had a customer who called me with the complaint that his new 750,000 Btu/Hr. burner had a solenoid valve rated at 380,000 Btu/Hr. He worried this would surely “screw up” the burner. So I began to explain capacity ratings — a complicated subject.

not a real world limit. Now in the pottery world. They for part two of our esoteric are designated by a letter journey ... and are made of different metals. IMPORTANT: the One night about 40 years metal these thermocouples ago I was sitting in the cold are made from must match January wind with a stalled the metal in your wires. kiln, and came to the If your thermocouple uncomfortable realization wire does not match your that I technically didn’t thermocouple type, you know what I was doing will again get gibberish, (otherwise, the kiln would so thermocouple wire is have already reached full color-coded. The wires are temperature). From then also polarized (+ and -). So, on, I knew I needed to find not only do you need the out why kiln firing troubles right color wire for your happen so I could prevent pyrometer / thermocouple them from recurring. connection, you also need Now let’s say you have a to hook up the poles fancy, used pyrometer that correctly. someone gave you. You buy a thermocouple probe for it and fire your kiln with it.

During the firing, you get a confusing feeling that something isn’t quite right.

The temperature reading on the pyrometer doesn’t match the cones, time, or color of the kiln. You may have made a mistake.

Different pyrometers have specific types, or unit switchable types, of thermocouple inputs. Unit switchable means you can set your pyrometer screen for the kind of thermocouple you are using. Analog, or needle pointing pyrometers, cannot be switched. If your pyrometer and your thermocouple are speaking different “languages”, your temperature read-out is going to be gibberish.

There are four basic thermocouple types used

Even more confusing, there are different color codes assigned in different parts of the planet. The ANSI color code (American National Standards Institute) is the code that most readers of Clay Times are going to be using. Below are the four most common thermocouple types, their color codes, and polarity.

[Note: If you hook something up incorrectly you’ll get a bad reading, but it won’t break or damage anything.]

Here are the ANSI colorcodes: Type J: white + red –

Type K: yellow + red – Type R: black + red – Type S: black + red – (Types R and S are the same color-coded wires, as they both contain platinum and rhodium, but at different percentages). [ Learn more at Marc Ward's Website: www.wardburner.com.

by VINCE PITELKA

W

hen I graduated from Humboldt State University with a Bachelors degree in art, focusing on ceramics, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I had great fun making pottery in undergraduate school, but I did not have the knowledge or skills needed to start and run my own pottery studio. I had always been mechanically minded, and at Humboldt I had worked part-time in the maintenance garage at the college corporation yard.

the very best tools and taking very good care of them. Those are among the most valuable lessons learned, and I still have most of those tools.

I “graduated” from the City of Arcata garage with the skills to build all my own studio equipment, including an

Just before graduation, I saw an ad for a job as a mechanic’s assistant with the City of Arcata. I applied, and to my surprise, I was hired. The head mechanic was a remarkable man named Harry Amner, trained as a welder in the Navy. He was also a veteran of the sawmills, where he worked as a millwright: a position that required fixing anything that broke.

electric wheel, Harry Davis vacuum de-airing pugmill, and a 100-cubicfoot car kiln. My experience at the City directly influenced my philosophy of tools and equipment in my former studio, Railroad Stoneware in Blue Lake, California. I know that the whole studio experience and my general productivity as an artist/ craftsman were greatly enhanced and improved as a result.

Harry taught me the finer points of welding and fabrication, and to never sacrifice quality to get something done in a hurry. We had to provide all our own tools, and Harry taught me the value of acquiring and using

“Don’t settle for the cheap alternatives or cutrate imitations, because they will invariably frustrate you — and your work will suffer.”

That’s my lesson in this column.

I’ve never advocated purchasing the latest tool that hits the market with an especially clever sales line. I try to provide valuable information about which tools have genuine merit, but ultimately, the choice is yours. Every potter/sculptor should proactively select tools that will best serve them and their work. Buy the finest ones available and don’t quibble over the price, then take good care of them. Don’t settle for the cheap alternatives or cut-rate imitations, because they will invariably frustrate you — and your work will suffer.

I recently taught a workshop where the banding wheels provided were cut-rate cast-iron: as heavy as a

minutes! If you want a banding wheel that does the job, get one that retains the inertia and keeps spinning while you accomplish the task at hand.

That’s the whole point of a banding wheel as compared to a turntable. A Shimpo banding wheel will still be doing its job for your grandchildren with no maintenance at all.

I love my carbon steel Dolan trimming tools. They are handmade

by Susan Parke Dolan and her mother Maureen, and are the best available for a carbon steel tool that holds an edge a lot longer than the cheap, ubiquitous stainless steel double-enders you see everywhere.

I am a handbuilder, so I don’t use Bison Studios tungsten carbide trimming tools, but if I was a thrower doing a lot of wheel-trimming, I’d invest in Bison tools and treat them with great care, so they never hit the floor and shatter.

The highest-quality studio tools become fixtures of a daily celebratory ritual. We take great pride in their use every time. The fine finish of such tools puts high expectations continued on next page

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

Within a few years, I advanced to journeyman mechanic, and Harry and I became equals in the City Garage and developed a wonderful working relationship. On even the simplest welding jobs for the Street Department or Water Department, Harry would clean off all the welding spatter, radius the corners, grind all sharp edges, and give the piece a coat of primer and finish enamel.

His standards of craftsmanship were impeccable, and he was the most important teacher I’ve ever had.

Shimpo, but with inferior bearings and finish. The rotation was choppy, as if there were sand in the bearings.

When you gave these wheels a spin, they came to a stop in 15 seconds or less. Give a Shimpo banding wheel a spin, and it keeps going for five

Shop Talk I Tool Times

Buy Quality, Seek Originality

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Shop Talk I Tool Times

Quality Tools on the originality and craftsmanship in our work. As a general philosophy, take the time to seek out high-quality tools and new techniques that will help make your work different from what you see, rather than similar to the work you most admire. Spend the money for Mudtools ribs and sponges, MKM rollers and stamps, Dolan or Bison trimming tools, and Dirty Girls cutoff wires and faceting tools. These are just a few of the many high-quality domesticallymade clay tools available today.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

During my 40+ years of clay work, I’ve always sought out the most interesting and unusual clay tools, never hesitating to modify a tool that didn’t meet my needs. I’ve often designed and made tools from scratch when none were available commercially. Every clay worker should have confidence to do the same, as the originality and expression in your work depends much on your willingness to assert your own technical and aesthetic judgment over what comes from teachers or ‘experts.’

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We are thankful for the teachers and experts and the guidance they provide, but becoming an autonomous and selfdirected studio artist means developing confidence in your own techniques and original ideas. Choose the best tools that suit those techniques and original ideas, and use them as you see fit with an eye toward unusual and unexpected methods and effects.

Sometimes a simple change in the use of a tool can result in a surface effect that helps you redefine your work. Don’t ever become a prisoner of the familiar, confining yourself and your work to the things you already know. That’s a path to boredom and burnout. [ Vince Pitelka is professor of clay at Tennessee Technological University’s Appalachian Center for Craft, an active participant on the Clayart Internet discussion group, and author of Clay: A Studio Handbook.

Feel free to suggest topics for this column or contact Vince through his Website at http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka.

T

he town of San Miguel de Allende, located in the mountainous region of central Mexico, is unique in many ways. Its inhabitants include several craftsmen and artists of various specialties including textiles, wood, ceramics, and iron.

Peter Davis is a ceramics teacher and artist who moved from New York to San Miguel a little less than a year ago. It didn’t take long for him to become friends with city residents, many of whom are also artists, craftsmen, and teachers.

Fortunately for Davis, one of these friends — Juan Pablo Hernandez — happens to be a highly skilled encaustic tile artisan equipped with an outstanding tile making studio.

Rosette and edging patterns on display

Story and photos by Peter Davis Translator: Yessika Ripoll

Pablo Hernandez shared stories of how his father, Guadalupe

Guadalupe’s tile making shop, named Mosaicos Hernandez, eventually expanded to 14 employees and seven tile presses. He also taught his children the art of making encaustic tiles. Five of his seven sons including Guadalupe, Romualdo, Florentino, José Miguel, and Juan Pablo, all worked in the art of mosaics with their father.

Of those seven children, only the youngest, Juan Pablo, continued to work in the family tile business as an adult. His father’s business had been successful enough to provide education suitable for his brothers to pursue other careers.

When visiting the workshop, one can see samples of tiles with different designs displayed on the walls.

Also visible are the “dividers” used for separating the colors when making the different encaustic designs.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

Davis discovered Hernandez when he found himself in need of five pieces of specifically designed vintage encaustic tiles to match and replace broken ones in his home. A friend had recommended Hernandez and his team of young workers. As a result, Davis found himself immersed in the tales of a very interesting history of the family’s workshop, all the while learning about the age-old process of encaustic tile making.

Hernandez, began manufacturing tiles around 1948. He learned the process from Anselmo Esparza, who used to travel to San Miguel from the neighboring city of Celaya in Guanajuato to make tiles every week.

Guadalupe Hernandez worked for Anselmo for two years, then bought his first tile press and started his own workshop.

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1. From the original design, a metal cookie cutter was shaped to separate the encaustic colors. It’s resting on terrycloth to protect the front edge from scratching.

5. Each of the colored slips is trailed into specific slots to replicate the exact pattern of the original design.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

9. The metal cookie cutter has been removed. Now all slip-trailed colors finally butt against each other.

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13. The metal tile holder containing colors and layers of cement slides into the press.

All three materials are bonded with 7 to 8 hp of pressure.

2. The cookie cutter separator is placed into a thick metal two-part tile holder mold so colors can be added to the pattern without bleeding into each other.

3. For consistency, the colors are mixed from a clay formula that has been handed down from generation to generation.

6. Red is applied first, then the light and dark turquoise are dripped over the cutter and ochre is applied afterward to fill the larger areas.

7. As soon as the ochre-colored slip is trailed into the specific slots of the larger background areas, the pattern visually to life. begins to come to life.

10. The ‘front’ of the tile will be the portion face-down. The first sifting of cement is now added to form the back of the tile.

14. After 10 seconds of exerted pressure, the materials bond and the tile quickly slides back out of the machine. In a flash, the two metal parts are opened.

4. Ketchup squeeze bottles are used for easy application of the various slips.

8. The tile pattern is now ready for the last color placement, a milk chocolate to be added to the corners of the tile.

11. A second layer of cement is then placed on top of the first layer of cement, and smoothed out by hand.

12. The second layer of cement to form the back of the tile is then refined and smoothed out with a straight edge to make sure the tile lies flat.

15. Once both metal external parts have been opened up, the freshly compressed, finished tile is immediately lifted out.

16. The pressed tile is now ready for the second phase of the process: soaking and drying.

These dividers are hanging like bunches of grapes here and there throughout the workshop. Most of them are made by bending tin to follow a design.

Only a few, the first ones, are made of alpaca metal (an alloy of copper, zinc, and nickel, and sometimes also iron).

It is interesting to witness the process through which each of the handcrafted tiles is produced (pictured, opposite page). Each tile is still completely made by hand, giving it heart and soul.

What exactly are encaustic tiles?

They are tiles made of cement, identified by many different names around the world. In southern Florida, they are known as Cuban tiles. While these cement tiles are known in many places and are still used extensively all over the world, they are relatively unknown in the U.S. Since the manufacturing of encaustic tiles does not require fueled heat like the firing of traditional ceramic tiles, this type of tile-making is more easily done in remote or rustic areas. Therefore, encaustic tiles can be produced in countries like India, Morocco, Egypt, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos.

In Latin America, Mexico was the first country to produce cement tiles, in the 19th century. Cuba soon followed, along with Colombia and Puerto Rico.

However, the history of encaustic tile production goes as far back as medieval times, in countries like France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Tile making in Europe was associated with monasteries, palaces, and the large buildings of the time.

How It’s Done

The color batch components are clay colors and water, mixed by hand in a metal container. Juan Pablo said he remembers the recipe for every single color his clients have requested. “It is all in my head,” he said. “When I see the color, I remember how to make it so it is an exact match.” When the color mixture becomes a slurry, it is emptied with a spoon into a plastic ketchup squeeze bottle. These bottles, which have caps with narrow nozzles, provide an ingenious way to manually pour the colored slurry into each section of the dividers without wasting the product.

The encaustic designs made in Mosaicos Hernandez are composed of three layers. The first layer or face of the tile (actually the “bottom” during the making) has the color design. The color design layer can be a single color or multicolored (using the divider shapes), while the second and third layers give the mosaic tile its structure.

The first layer of the tile-making process begins with a two-piece metal frame and base (either square, hexagonal, or octagonal) that is laid on a flat, matching plate of metal. The color divider is placed inside the frame. The colors or color are poured into the divider sections to make the first layer.

The colors set right away, then the divider is removed.

The second layer is made of a 50/50 mixture (by weight) of cement and sand poured on top of the color layer. The third layer consists of sand that has a bit of water added to make a crumbly, moist mixture, which is then poured on top of the cement layer. The sand is flattened with a piece of metal, and the lid of the metal frame is placed on top.

Now the tile is placed into the press. Instantly, the tile is compressed with 7 to 8 hp of pressure. It is then quickly removed and set aside to firm up, but not to dry.

Pictured at top: Juan Pablo Hernandez carries on the family tradition of tile making in his San Miguel, Mexico studio.

Next: The tile in the foreground was made to match old tiles in the background.

The next day, the final process begins. For 24 hours the tiles are soaked in water to fully saturate. This activates the cement layer, and ensures that it hydrates and soaks into the first and third layers. After soaking, the tiles are allowed to dry for two to 12 days, depending on the client’s needs. Then they are inspected for quality.

As mentioned previously, since the tiles are made of cement, they don’t require firing.

Encaustic tiles can be used in many residential and industrial applications, both indoors and outdoors (with the proper weather sealant).

The tile work of Mosaicos Hernandez is not only made with an innate love of art, but also with the cultural pride Mexican artisans imprint on all of their work. [

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

The process starts with the preparation of the colors for the designs of the tiles. Juan Pablo mentioned that the first layer is made of semi-liquid clay colors that come from rocks, dug from the subsoil. The raw material for the colors is ground rocks that naturally come in a variety of colors, with no chemical additives. This is a notable fact because the trend for authentic

products and “green” (earth-friendly) flooring has recently begun to draw more attention to encaustic tiles.

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Fry Chicken, Not People. Life-sized earthenware decorated with commercial glazes, underglazes, and lustres. Fired to cone 06 in oxidation.

Kentucky Fired Gun Control

BY SHERI LEIGH O’CONNOR

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

I

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’ve been leading travel groups to Japan for the past few years. There, I fell in love with the toys and charms from the ever-present capsule vending machines.

Some of my favorites were what look like batter-dipped, deep-fried construction vehicles: a dump truck, backhoe, concrete truck, etc. The vending machine has them pictured on top of rice like chicken katsu … too funny!

I hung them in my office, next to my desk. They soon spawned the idea to make life-sized, batter-dipped, deepfried objects of clay.

First I made KFC’d household things, like a hammer, cooking utensils, chopsticks, and silverware. It was a challenge to try to replicate the KFC surface. I went to KFC and bought bucket meals for research purposes. (Okay, I ate them, and they were finger lickin’ good!) I got the idea to make sporks, too. After making these pieces for a while, I was chatting with my friend Tony about what to make next, and he suggested I make guns.

While making the guns, I was reminded of a bumper sticker I made a few years ago, “Fire Pots, Not Guns”. It was super-

strange to be sculpting guns as a pacifist.

I’ve never even touched a gun in my life, and hope to die being able to say so. Holding them, with the weight of the clay, felt like what I would imagine holding a gun would feel like. The forms are also very intricate, and made me feel ambivalent — getting into guns, and making them, while disliking them so. My intention behind the work pictured above, “Fry Chicken, Not People”, is that getting a gun shouldn’t be as easy, and fast, as getting a bucket of chicken.

Throughout my clay career, humor has been the common thread. Addressing this serious issue with humorous references is my way of crying out for stricter gun legislation. The U.S. population is only about 5% of the world’s population, yet we have about 35-50% of the world’s guns. In Japan, it’s nearly impossible to get a gun, and they have the lowest gun homicide rate in the world. We’ve got to take action.

The KFC (Kentucky Fired Ceramics) buckets are decorated with an altered image of “the Colonel”, intended to

represent Charlton Heston.

In a famous speech in 2000, as the president of the NRA (National Rifle Association), he stated “I want to say those fighting words for everyone within the sound of my voice to hear and to heed, and especially for you, Mr. Gore: ‘From my cold, dead hands!’ ”

My ‘pieces’ [no pun intended!] are made of white earthenware fired to cone 06. I use primarily commercial underglazes, glazes, and lustres on the bullets.

The bucket, side dishes, and bullets are wheel-thrown, and the guns and other KFC’d pieces are handbuilt sculptures. I make the pieces, then coat them with

dry clay to make them look batter dipped and deep-fried.

I share President Obama’s passion to make gun control an issue that needs to be addressed.

My hope is that action will be taken before he leaves office.

The increasing numbers of mass shootings is so frightening — it can no longer be ignored. [

process: MAKING THE STENCILS

When deciding to make KFC pieces with the Charlton Heston “colonel” image on them, I thought about painting the images and text, or making decals. I asked my son, Ryland Sweigard, a digital artist, for his help. Among other things, he makes stickers with a vinyl cutter. He took the image and text I created, and made vinyl stickers that I could use as stencils when decorating.

KFC - Kentucky Fired Ceramics.

From top: Sheri’s Humor, Extra Crispy, Fry Chicken Not People Guns, Hammered and Fried, Original Recipe, Finger Lickin’ Good

I stuck the stickers of negative space to the bisqued pieces, then painted underglaze in the positive spaces. The vinyl adheres rather well to clean bisqueware (occasionally, I also used painter’s tape around the decals to ensure I didn’t get any underglaze where I didn’t want it). Finally, the stencils are removed. The graphics and text are much crisper than I could have achieved by hand-painting.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

The vinyl cutter cuts the solid vinyl, and then you peel away the parts you don’t want on the sticker (I wanted the negative space, so the positive portions of the image were removed, and the negative portion remained). Then you apply application tape to the peeled vinyl for easy removal of the sticker from the paper backing on the vinyl. This exposes the sticky side. Now the sticker can be applied.

Sheri Leigh O’Connor teaches ceramics at Sierra Nevada College, and directs the Summer Visiting Artist Workshops. For more info, please visit: www.sherileighceramics.com Sheri Leigh’s work will be included in the “50 Women: A Celebration of Women’s Contribution to Ceramics” at the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, in conjunction with the 50th NCECA conference.

This exhibition will be on view until May 13th.

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Resources I Classified Marketplace

Classified Marketplace Classes

Opportunities, cont.

Tools for Potters, cont.

• Throw like a pro! Hone your craftsmanship with this proven method. I will teach you in your studio. Your skill will grow substantially. See reference letters at: Jepsonpottery.com; neverleavetheplayground.com

• Emergency relief and recovery resources for artists affected by recent disasters are available from CERF, the Craft Emergency Relief Fund.

Log onto studioprotector.org for details on how to get help from the arts sector, relief providers, and your community. The site, created by artists for artists, also offers strategies for becoming better prepared to deal with or avoid craft emergencies altogether.

the highest quality materials are used including exotic woods and Kirinite; each tool is a work of art.

We have a new line of tools this year, including glow-in-the-dark tools. Come see us at NCECA, booth #422.

Help Wanted • Attention College Students!

Wordpress e-commerce guru wanted to assist with completion of new CT Website at www. claytimes.co. Please check it out and let us know if this is the dream job for you! Active college students and recent IT grads encouraged to apply. E-mail your resume and links to your Web design project samples to claytimes@gmail.com Opportunities

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

• The Annual National K-12 Ceramic Exhibition is an annual juried ceramic competition for Kindergarten through Grade 12 (K-12) students in the United States.

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Designed to showcase the best K-12 ceramic work made in the country, the exhibition takes place in a different city each year in conjunction with the annual conference of The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). Visit the 19th annual show in Kansas City, Missouri, March 16-19, 2016.

For complete details about the show and the entry process, log onto http://www.k12clay.org/

• Arts Community seeks smart, happy people — Intentional, sustainable, artsoriented community located in the NC mountains near Penland School of Crafts. Forest preserve, hiking trails, organic farm site, green-built houses. Makers and appreciators of clay (and other arts) welcome! Visit us online at www.HighCove.com For Sale • Order print and digital back issues, original potter’s t-shirt designs, and more — available exclusively from Clay Times!

We’ve also got the Great Glazes I & II collection of glaze recipes, Teaching Techniques how-to article PDFs by Bill van Gilder, and lots more great gifts for clay lovers at www.claytimes.com/store.html Tools for Potters • Segers Tools is a family-owned business creating originally designed, handcrafted tools. Only

• If you ever enjoyed the Spirograph® — that geometric drawing toy that produces mathematical curves technically known as hypotrochoids and epitrochoids — then you will probably enjoy ‘The Steve Tool’, which produces the same in 3D on clay. The next time you throw a pot, or spin-form extrusions, try this device to add texture to your cylinder before stretching out the shape. If you teach beginners and they just can’t limit the glaze they apply to a pot, hand them a Steve Tool to get the benefit of holding back some of that slobber thru crazy texture. For full details, visit www.graberspottery.com or e-mail steve@graberspottery.com [

Reach tens of thousands of active clay artists with your message in Clay Times!

Classifieds as low as $ 75 Display ads as low as $ 151 YOUR PRINT AD in any issue EARNS YOU a FREE 3-MONTH AD ONLINE!

Order your Clay Times classified at www.claytimes.com/classifieds.html or call 800.356.2529 for display advertising

Resources I Books & Videos

Four Books for Your Night Stand

The Philosophy of our Craft reviewS by STEVEN BRANFMAN

M

uch has been written about approach, inspiration, motivation, purpose, and meaning when it comes to the making and appreciating of art and craft. The topic spans all cultures, genres, and time periods. Some studies are based in religion, others in secular spirituality, while yet others have a foundation in practicality and everyday practice.

Philosophy and spirit are foundations that I speak to everyday in my work.

They form the basis of what inspires me to make work. When I am making, I am speaking the language of clay, and it is no less a language than our native tongues.

I make work to communicate, to share my feelings and experiences, and to express how my life is affected by the everyday encounters that I face. I suspect that many of you share the same purpose, intentions, and goals.

None of these books is new, yet they are all current, relevant, and important.

For the mature readers of this column, at least some

Centering: In Pottery, Poetry, and the Person by M.C. Richards. Wesleyan University Press, paperback, ISBN 978-0-8195-6200-5 — $21.95. Ebook, 978-08195-6970-7 — $16.99 I first reviewed Centering in this column in 2005.

Written in 1964, Centering is now 52 years old, but it is still in print and readily available. It is a book that I go back to every so often as a reminder of the connection between an everyday philosophy of living and interacting with our world, and our dialogue with clay.

Before sitting down to write this column I read my 2005 review. If there were space, I’d include it here in its entirety as I find that everything I wrote 11 years ago pertains today. Instead I’ll share a few pieces from that review since nothing has occurred to change my feelings about the book.

Centering is one of those seminal pieces of writing that was unique and unquestionably significant when written and at least in its theme, remains so today. In it, the author uses the concept and theme of the potter centering their clay as a metaphor for a philosophy and approach

to life, lifestyle, and indeed existence. However simple the idea appears, the issues, observations, suggestions, and philosophies that Richards advances and offers are anything but simple. My introduction to the book came in 1970, when I was a freshman art student with shoulder-length hair and beads and just back from the Woodstock Festival.

My naïvety was a target for Centering and the arrow was a bullseye.

Throughout the book M.C. quotes great thinkers, writers, philosophers, and artists. Despite her references to others, the themes and her observations, the motifs and her ideals, the subjects and her arguments are completely her own. There is a degree of mystery and mysticism in her words that is easy to ignore out of a lack of effort on the reader’s part. You must read carefully and slowly.

You must pay attention and question when things become muddy or appear convoluted. You must reread the sentences and paragraphs that are confusing. If you don’t, if you gloss over these sections, you will miss the heart of the book and that would be a tragedy.

M.C. talks about balance and about how we communicate. She talks about our ability to make connections between similar as well as dissimilar

objects, thoughts, and concepts.

She shares her thoughts about growth and metamorphosis. M.C. explores our physical being and its connection to our spiritual existence. Centering is not a book of religion. There is no proselytizing. continued on next page

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

This past fall I exposed the most intimate phase of my life as an artist in my exhibition A Father’s Kaddish, online at www. thepottersshop.com/a-fatherskaddish. My choice of theme for this column radiates from that exhibition.

of them will be familiar and perhaps you’ll read them again for a fresh encounter.

For those less experienced with the literature of our craft, I hope that they open a new window on your practice of clay work.

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Resources I Books & Videos

There is no sense of a missionary quest. There are no directives that you must follow. At most it is a guide, a map, a travelogue if you will through the myriad of attractions, distractions, and influences that guide, push, and otherwise affect our daily lives. M.C. offers a way to navigate, to interpret, to discern, and to design full and meaningful lives. Centering is a book of reflections, images, and portraits. It is a book of depictions, expressions, and connections. It is a book full of wisdom.

Treasures of the Creative Spirit

by Robert Piepenburg. Pebble Press, paperback, ISBN 9780962848131 — $13.95

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

My review of this book, another favorite of mine, appeared in 1999. Robert Piepenburg takes us on an emotional journey where the connections, bonds, and symbiosis between creativity, spirit, emotion, love, trust, and desire are identified, and their meanings are made clear.

46

Treasures is readable and understandable. It is a piece of writing that one can attach themselves to and learn from on many different levels. In this book, pottery is not the issue. In fact, no specific medium or method of making art or expressing creativity in a tangible way is referred to in any important degree. Instead, Robert delves into the basis, the gut, the spirit if you will, of how an individual can be, and is, creative. His fundamental theme is illustrated by his answer to the question “How does someone become creative?” His reply is that we are all creative and all one has to do is submit to it. Though this answer may sound trite, don’t be fooled.

It is only the tip of the iceberg. The spirituality and individualness of how one goes about this submission

is what captivates the reader.

Treasures of the Creative Spirit is sensitively written, but not soupy. It is personal, yet not narcissistic. It is serious and presented as an important piece of writing, but is not vain. To gain a better understanding of where the author is coming from, all one has to do is glance at the references in the back of the book. John F. Kennedy, William Sinclair, M.C. Richards, Henry David Thoreau, John Milton, and Ralph Waldo Emerson are among those listed. Its 186 pages pass fluidly and comfortably. Treasures of the Creative Spirit is a piece of cake that you should try. If it happens that its appearance puts you off, I’ll chance to say that its taste may pleasantly surprise you.

Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers

by Leonard Koren. Imperfect Publishing, paperback, ISBN 9780981484600 — $16.00 First published in 1994, this was one of the first books to bring the Japanese concept of “imperfect beauty” to western audiences. Wabi-Sabi was reissued in 2008 in an updated version.

Wabi-sabi is considered the quintessential embodiment of Japanese aesthetics.

In Wabi-Sabi, the author describes his first encounters with the concept and lays the historical and cultural groundwork for an understanding. In a wonderfully illustrative way, Wabi-Sabi opens the door to this very foreign idea of beauty inviting us to gently comprehend and embrace its features. In a most enlightening section of the book, Koren compares the similarities between Modernism, the dominant aesthetic of post WWII to the present, and wabi-sabi. The similarities help bridge the gap and make the differences

quite discernable. Discussion of the Tea Ceremony and its relevance to wabi-sabi is not ignored and is an essential component of the book.

The book is handsome in its simplicity, both in content and as an object to hold.

The print is soft on the eyes, and the pages embody a gentle texture that is warm and comfortable.

Quiet black and white images are deftly interspersed. One of the strengths of Wabi-Sabi is that the author does not espouse a return to the past in order to appreciate or practice the aesthetic ideal of the philosophy. Rather, he incorporates it into our contemporary lifestyle. WabiSabi is more than a book.

As you read you will find yourself stopping to question, to wonder, and to absorb , and thus, it reads more like a conversation. Ninety-four pages never before packed so much punch and stirred so much thought.

A Way of Working; The Spiritual Dimension of Craft, edited by D.M. Dooling, Parabola Books, paperback 9780930407018 A Way of Working is singular among this selection of books in that it is the only one that isolates “craft” and addresses it as a stand-alone concept and idea. In it, D.M. Dooling has assembled eleven essays that speak to her devoutness to the consequence and magnitude of craft. She states in the introduction “… we are considering craft as a paradigm of man’s total activity — a making, a doing, and an act of contemplation — as it refers to man the maker, man the user, and man the tool ...”

For Dooling and the contributing writers, craft is certainly about the making and the using of objects.

However, their essays all

place craft in a higher realm of consciousness and practice.

Craft transcends the physical and material and resides in our being. We practice craft every day, whether we do it intentionally or not. It is simply our way of life. These essays address various elements of craft from historical, cultural, and spiritual avenues. There is a gentle-yet-persistent religious thread, but it is not a book about religion. There is no effort to persuade, to preach, to lecture or to moralize.

Biblical references are used as examples, and faith is an underlying power. A Way of Working is not a manual for a cult.

One of the shared themes among the contributions is that craft is considered a reservoir of creativity and methods of expression, and that craft is a language. The “Alchemy of Craft” essay written by the editor does much to coalesce this idea.

Don’t let the notion of religion, bible, or faith dissuade you from giving The Way of Craft a try. In short order you’ll find it compelling, alluring, and wonderfully provocative. [ Steven Branfman is an accomplished potter, author, and teacher of pottery and ceramics at Thayer Academy in Braintree, Massachusetts, and proprietor of The Potters Shop and School. You can e-mail him at: sbranfpots @aol.com

Check out these listings to find local programs for wheel-throwing, handbuilding, sculptural techniques, & more …

Classes are listed alphabetically by state

COLORADO

FLORIDA, cont.

Spinning Star Studio — 427 East Colorado Ave., Studio 129, Colorado Springs, CO 80903; http:// www.spinningstarstudio.com; jennifer@spinningstarstudio. com. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, raku firing, classes for adults; wheelchair accessible wheel available. Open studio is available as well as electric kiln rental for firing up to cone 6.

Morean Center for Clay — 420 22nd St. South, St. Petersburg, FL 33712; 727.821.0516; www.MoreanArtsCenter.org; valerie.scott.knaust@ moreanartscenter.org. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, wood firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children. Children’s summer camps and week-long adult camps.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

GEORGIA

Hinckley Pottery — 1707 Kalorama Road NW, Washington, DC 20009; www.hinckleypottery.com; info@ hinckleypottery.com. Our studio offers ongoing classes on the potter’s wheel for all skill levels. Wheel-throwing, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, classes for adults and children, tools and pottery for sale.

Callanwolde Fine Arts Center — 980 Briarcliff Rd., Atlanta, GA 30306; 404.874.9351; www. callanwolde.org; gdair@callanwolde.org. Located in Midtown Atlanta, Callanwolde offers basic and intermediate wheel and handbuilding classes for adults, as well as electric, gas, raku, and soda firing, plus guest artist workshops.

FLORIDA Boca Raton Museum Art School — 801 West Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton, FL 33486; 561.392.2503; Fax 561.361.8306; artschool@bocamuseum.org; www.bocamuseum.org/ artschool. We offer handbuilding, wheel-throwing, clay sculpture classes for kids, teens, and adults as well as classes in jewelry, painting, and photography.

Craft Gallery & Dixie Art Loft — 5911 South Dixie Hwy., West Palm Beach, FL 33405; 561.585.7744; FAX 561.585-0476; www.thecraftgallery. net; potteryme@comcast.net. Gallery, studio & kiln rental.

Glazes, clay, glass, tools, books, equipment, and art. Classes in glass fusion, enameling, silver clay, wheel-throwing, hand-building, and architectural sculpture. Workshops by guest artists.

Johns Creek Arts Center — 6290 Abbotts Bridge Rd., Building 700, Johns Creek, GA 30097; 770.623.8448; Fax 770.623.6995; jcacinfo@bellsouth. net; http://www.johnscreekarts.org. Located in Johns Creek, GA, the Johns Creek Art Center provides ceramics instruction for adults and youth with wheel-throwing, handbuilding, summer camps, cone 06-6 electric firing, and guest artist workshops.

MAINE The Red Door Pottery Studio — 44 Government St., Kittery, ME 03904; 207.439.5671; exfpottery@yahoo.com; www.reddoorpottery.com.

Year-round classes, all skill levels, monthly workshops,

private lessons, retail gallery, shows. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children.

MARYLAND The ClayGround Studio & Gallery, LLC — 3715 Old Columbia Pike, Ellicott City, MD 21043; 443.812.1158; claygroundonline.com; clayations46@ yahoo.com. Pottery classes for all ages, with wheel throwing, handbuilding, and electric firing. We do birthday parties, scout troops, home school, and corporate team building events.

Renaissance Art Center — 9250 Gaither Rd., Gaithersburg, MD 20877; 301.987.0377; www.rcarts.com; info@rcarts.com. Pottery classes for all ages, teaching wheel throwing, handbuilding, and glazing techniques. Electric firing. Our new studio features 12 wheels and over 2000 s.f. of studio space!

MASSACHUSETTS Purple Sage Pottery — 3 Mechanic St., Merrimac, MA 01860; 978.346.9978; www.purplesagepottery. com; iris@purplesagepottery.com. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, sculpture; electric, gas reduction, and raku firing; guest artist workshops; classes for adults and children.

MISSISSIPPI Bodine Pottery & Art Studio — New location: 432 West Frontage Dr., Wiggins, MS 39577; 601.928.4718; www.bodinepottery.com; hukmut@ bodinepottery.com. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, kiln building, PMC (precious metal clay), week-long clay camps for adults and summer clay camps for kids. Also a clay supplier and gallery, featuring the work of ten Mississippi artists. continued on next page

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

Carla’s Clay Inc. — 1733 Northgate Blvd., Sarasota, FL 34234; 941.359.2773; www.carlasclay.com; cobrien@carlasclay.com. Classes for adults and children in wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric and raku firing. Guest artist workshops; retail supplies and gallery.

The Hudgens Center for the Arts — 6400 Sugarloaf Pkwy, Bldg. 300, Duluth, GA 30097; 770.623.6002; Fax 770.623.3555; info@thehudgens. org; www.thehudgens.org. The Hudgens is located north of Atlanta and offers year-round fine art classes. Wheelthrowing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, classes for adults and children, open studio for students.

Resources I Classes

Community Pottery Classes

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Resources I Classes

MISSOURI 323 Clay — 323 West Maple Avenue, Independence, MO 64068; 816.254.7552; http://www.323Clay.com; kimberly@323clay.com. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults, classes for children.

Kansas City Clay Guild — 200 West 74th St., Kansas City, MO 64114; 816.373-1373; www.kcclayguildstudios.org; kcclayguild88@yahoo. com. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes and “pottery parties” for adults and children. A fun, family atmosphere for novice through advanced ceramic artists.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

NORTH CAROLINA Dan Finch Pottery — 5526 Nursery Lane, Bailey, NC 27807-9492; 252.235.4664; http://www.danfinch. com; dan.finch@earthlink.net. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, wood firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults. Demonstrations and workshops for groups (school, church, civic). Quarterly day and evening classes available in a collaborative and nurturing environment at Finch Farm.

NEW YORK

OHIO

Artworks at West Side YMCA — 5 West 63rd St., New York, NY 10023; 212.912.2368; ymcanyc. org/westside; kmissett@ymcanyc.org We are a friendly, supportive studio on Manhattan’s Upper West Side offering classes and open studio time in the visual arts. Wheelthrowing, handbuilding, electric firing, wood firing, guest artist workshops, stained glass, watercolor, drawing, and beading. Classes for adults and children.

John Bryan Community Pottery — 100 Dayton St., Yellow Springs, OH 45387; 937.767.9022; www.communitypottery.com. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, wood firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children. Four 8-week, sessions beginning in January, April, June and August. Studio and kiln rental.

BrickHouse Ceramic Art Center — 10-34 44th Drive 1st Floor, Long Island City, NY 11101; 718.784.4907; ellen.day@brickhouseny.com; http://www. brickhouseny.com. Spacious, fully-equipped studio, yearround adult classes, ceramic artist rental shelves, pottery for sale.Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, guest artist workshops, private parties.

TEXAS

Clay Art Center — 40 Beech Street, Port Chester, NY 10573; 914.937.2047; www.clayartcenter.org; leigh@ clayartcenter.org. Clay Art Center kindles a passion for the ceramic arts and provides a community for that passion to flourish. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children, community arts programming.

48

The Painted Pot — 339 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231; 718.222.0334; www.paintedpot.com; mail@paintedpot.com; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, sculpture.

Clayworks on Columbia Inc. — 195 Columbia St., Brooklyn, NY 11231; 917.428.3128; ddmcdermott@rcn.com; www.clayworksoncolumbia.org.

A not-for-profit clay studio now in its 16th year. Classes for adults & children in wheel-throwing, handbuilding, and sculpture; featuring electric firing plus rental space and gallery for students and members.

The JCC in Manhattan — 334 Amsterdam Ave., 76th St., Brooklyn, NY 10023; 646.505.5715; sorr@jccmanhattan.org; www.jccmanhattan. org/artstudios. The Upper West Side’s community ceramics center with classes for everyone at every level! Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children.

We also offer classes for children with Special Needs, private lessons, birthday parties, and bench time for registered students.

Eric Orr Clay — 22 Blackjack Lane, Lewisville,TX 75077; 940.241.1242; ericorrclay.com; ericmuddorr@ yahoo.com. A complete teaching studio for lovers of clay and glass. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, glass fusing and slumping, classes for adults and children. I work with you individually and endeavor to take you where you want to go on your clay/glass journey!

SUNIN Clay Studio — 13473 Wetmore Road, San Antonio, TX 78247; 210.494.9100; suninpottery@ sbcglobal.net; suninclaystudio.com. A teaching and working pottery studio offering classes, equipment, supplies, gallery/ shows and creative encouragement. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children, sculpting classes and retail products.

VIRGINIA Art Pottery Studio — 4810 Tabard Pl., Annandale, VA 22003; 703.978.1480; artpottery@earthlink.net; www. potteryart.biz. Year-round classes, Summer Clay Camp, Group, Private. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, classes for adults and children. Scouts, Cancer Survivors, Special Needs. Sculpture, Specialty workshops: "Wine, Cheese, Pottery!"; "Parent & Child!" ALL LEVELS. Mainly Clay — 217 N. Main, Farmville, VA 23901 (beside Green Front Furniture). Pottery wheel and handbuilding classes, open studio, supplies, gifts, and jewelry; 434.315.5715; butlerp@mainlyclay.com; www.mainlyclay. com. Amaco & Standard dealer, Brent wheels, Shimpo slab roller, and Skutt electric kilns. Located in beautifully renovated

historic building with upstairs rental space available for events and workshops.

Manassas Clay & Tin Barn Pottery Supply — 9122 Center Street, Manassas, VA 20110; 703.330.1040; www.manassasclay.com; manassasclay@aol.com; wheelthrowing, handbuilding, sculpture, glazing, raku.

Nan Rothwell Pottery — 221 Pottery Lane, Faber, VA 22938 (near Wintergreen); 434.263.4023; www.nanrothwellpottery.com; info@nanrothwellpottery.com.

Wheel-throwing, gas firing, salt glaze firing, guest artist workshops, plus two- and three-day workshops focused on wheel work or decorating and firing functional pottery.

PFAC — 101 Museum Drive, Newport News, VA 23606; 757.596.8175; mpreble@pfac-va.org; www.pfac-va.org; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children. PFAC offers the opportunity to explore clay with a variety of techniques and processes.

Round Hill Arts Center — 35246 Harry Byrd Highway, Round Hill, VA 20142; 540.338.5022; info@ roundhillartscenter.org; www.roundhillartscenter.org; wheelthrowing, handbuilding, electric firing, classes for adults and children, summer camps, also classes for all art mediums.

Mention Clay Times for a 10% discount on your first class!

Open studios for students.

Workhouse Arts Center Ceramics Program — 9504 Workhouse Way, Bldg. 8, Lorton, VA 22079; 703.584.2982; www.workhousearts.org or www.workhouseceramicsarts.org; dalemarhanka@lortonarts. org. A collective and highly dynamic environment with the goal of promoting ceramic art through research, education, and outreach. Resident artist program and classes for adults (ages 16 & up) and children (5-15 years old) in wheel-throwing, handbuilding, ceramic sculpture, tile making, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, visiting artist workshops, corporate retreats, and workshops for Girl /Cub Scout troops.

WISCONSIN Adamah Clay Studios of Bethel Horizons — 4651 County Highway ZZ, Dodgeville, WI 53533; 608.574.8100; e-mail: artventures@bethelhorizons.org; www.bethelhorizons-artventures.org. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, wood firing, classes for adults and children.

Weekly pottery classes, affordable summer intensive weeklong workshops, beautiful views, & university credits.

WYOMING Potters Depot LLC — 75 East Benteen St., Buffalo, WY 82834; pottersdepot@msn.com; www.pottersdepot. com; 307.684.4555. We have a beautiful gallery and offer pottery classes for adults, teens, and kids. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops. We are located at the foothills of the beautiful Big Horn Mountains and provide a large selection of clay bodies and tools. [

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

— Thomas Edison

A

t least that’s what I keep telling myself, as cracked greenware ends up in the recycle bucket and warped pots go directly from the kiln to the driveway, to be broken into gravel.

You would think that after 40 years of working with clay I would have a better handle on avoiding mistakes and failures — but I’m still finding lots of ways that don’t work.

I always recommend that potters find a clay body they like, then stick with it. Take the time to learn

Then there is the fire — that ultimate arbitrator that can turn a great idea and hours of work into a mound of rubble. The worst part is that all the thought, design, and creation have been done, yet an undesirable firing can leave you with with undesirable pots. As with choosing clay, I also think it is best for a potter to decide on a specific firing schedule and stay with it, or slowly modify it, rather than making drastic changes.

For me, this has meant taking another cue from the old-timers, and firing with wood — which makes the process more challenging, yet much more rewarding.

“If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.”

— Woody Allen Forget everything I just wrote.

Where’s the excitement and progress if you figure everything out and can duplicate your success over and over? Personally, I can’t help it: I am always experimenting, trying variations, and chasing new ideas.

Most potters are like this, too. In fact, I think this is one of the reasons

I love visiting and hanging out with potters: they are always trying new things that often don’t work out, and it’s hard to be arrogant when you regularly experience failure and know it will come again. It makes for a humble and down-to-earth personality.

Over the past few years I have developed a good business making and selling communion sets to ministers and churches. I didn’t really set out to do this. A friend runs a nearby school for people who want to become Methodist ministers but already have jobs, so they cannot attend seminary school.

Many of them are already pastors at small country churches, but without formal degrees. They attend daylong classes once a month, so it takes many years to complete the required courses for certification. I had made a communion set for my friend, so he suggested that I set up a display at the school and take orders for more of my sets.

I declined the offer for several years, but finally decided to give it a try.

The demand was overwhelming!

My next firing consisted mostly of chalices, pitchers, and patens (plates). That was two years ago.

My sales display at the school was also a success last year. But by this year, I was getting a little bored with making the same items, so I decided to try some new details.

“Wouldn’t it be appealing,” I thought, “to add some beads and coves to the stems of the chalices, for a decorative lathe-turned look?” I made some small beading tools out of Plexiglas scraps and used them on a big batch of chalices, some of which comprised part of the communion set orders. continued on next page

CLAYTIMES·COM n SPRING / SUMMER 2016

So much can go wrong in the lowtech and seemingly simple process of transforming a ball of clay into a pot. If you go back to the very beginning — a clay deposit in the ground — there are dozens, if not hundreds, of steps required to finally end up with a pottery vessel, before it is even fired. Even if the potter buys ready-to-use clay in a bag, the clay is not really “ready-to-use” until it is tested in accordance with the potter’s individual procedures and methods. Things can go awry at every step in the process. Even after being tested, of course, the clay can change from batch to batch.

its strengths and weaknesses.

Every time you switch clays you are introducing more variables and more chances for problems.

Years ago, I decided to use a clay body composed entirely of local clays. It has its eccentricities, and sometimes I’m tempted to try a new clay. However, after all these years, I have developed a real feel for what the clay can and cannot do, so I keep using it. Plus, I love the idea of working like the old-time potters, using local materials. It makes more sense then shipping bags of earth around the globe.

BY DAVID HENDLEY

Opinion I Around the Firebox

Embracing Failure

49

Opinion I Around the Firebox

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Embracing Failure (from p. 49) “Success is usually the culmination of controlling failure.”

— Sylvester Stallone That’s how my “tipsy chalices” came into being. What went into the kiln as straight symmetrical chalices came out as drooping and leaning rejects — not all of them, but a heartbreaking 30%-40%. I suspect that the new detail of adding beads and grooves to the stems thinned and weakened the clay. At peak temperature, when the clay became pyroplastic, the chalices with all those grooves and irregularities were subject to uneven temperatures or a strong kiln draft, causing them to lean toward one side.

I had no time to re-make and refire the chalices for the orders I had promised for the following week, so I decided to deliver what I had. Most of the sets were okay, but a couple came out with leaning chalices, so I planned to promise to replace them with new straight ones in the next six weeks. At the school, I unwrapped a set and showed it to my first customer, quickly explaining the leaning chalice fiasco. A big smile slowly came over his face. “This is perfect. My congregation is always telling me that I am a little unusual and out of kilter, and now I have the chalice to prove it!” He didn’t want a replacement, and he couldn’t be dissuaded. I reluctantly agreed that we would call the order complete.

So I can now add one more way that will not work to my ever-expanding list. But like most failures, this got me to thinking. Wouldn’t it be interesting to design some purposely leaning chalices? Back to the studio: this will be fun!

“Trying is the first step to failure.”

— Homer Simpson [ David Hendley may be reached via e-mail at: david@farmpots.com

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