Marcia Kindlmann on sun 31 mar 96
Subject: handmade vs handpainted
Hi Julie,
Three cheers for your efforts to educate your buying public on what
goes into handmade pottery, giving them a keener eye for craft.
I've found that people do really appreciate learning these things.
When you say,
> I explain how to check for finger ridges.<
do you mean how to tell the difference between ones that are thrown
in the raw clay versus the ridges designed into a mold, or put by
hand into jiggered pieces? The latter especially I find a real
stumper, knowing that more than one person has looked at these ridges
in jiggered pieces and thought they signified "handthrown," especially because
the piece was in a shop called "Handcrafts Center." Not
that the _intention_ was to deceive, see for instance the excellent
article in April '94 CM about Bill Campbell's production. On p. 45
in this article there's a photo with caption, "Curtis Moore jiggers
a bowl using hydraulic controls .... When finished, he adds finger
grooves inside the form to catch and pool glaze during firing."
And conversely, just yesterday in another shop, talking to the
potter there, I found beautiful handthrown pots that had no ridges
because they were meant to evoke smooth river stones.
If you can find a way to describe the ridges that distinguish
hand-throwing from other methods of ridge-making, all us dinosaurs
will toss our hats in the air with joy.
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I've decided to make up a three-fold brochure to have available to my
> customers at craft shows. In it I'll decribe, generally, the making of
> a HANDMADE pot from the "raw clay" to the finished, fired product. At
> the end I'm sneaking in a little blurb about how to tell a handmade pot.
> Some of my suggestions to them are to look for slight irregularities in
> size and shape between similar pots. I explain how to check for finger
> ridges. A pot that is stamped with the potters seal (impressed into the
> clay) or incised with his/her mark had to have been made from scratch,
> but I also explain that some potters sign with a brush and coloring
> oxides.
>
> Any other suggestions to ad to my subltle attempt to educate the public
> without offending too many people?
TIA,
Julie
Karen Ottenbreit on sun 31 mar 96
>I've decided to make up a three-fold brochure to have available to my
>customers at craft shows. In it I'll decribe, generally, the making of a
>HANDMADE pot from the "raw clay" to the finished, fired product. At the end
>I'm sneaking in a little blurb about how to tell a handmade pot. Some of my
>suggestions to them are to look for slight irregularities in size and shape
>between similar pots. I explain how to check for finger ridges. A pot that
>is stamped with the potters seal (impressed into the clay) or incised with
>his/her mark had to have been made from scratch, but I also explain that some
>potters sign with a brush and coloring oxides.
Hi Julie,
What a good idea ! I may just do that myself. One thing that might be
suggested is that potential buyers flat out ASK the seller if it was
handmade as opposed to molded. (..nothing like being direct !)
I have done this on occasion, (even though I can tell the difference), and
only 1 person has tried to "pull a fast one over me". The others have
explained the slip and mold process...then their decorating style.
just a thought
Karen, enjoying break up, on the Kenai
Mud and water everywhere !!! Break out the rubbers !!
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