mel jacobson on mon 30 apr 07
purists want pure white, no ball clay.
if your need is pure white..historic porcelain...go for it.
several on this list are very excited about porcelain and want purity.
then you pay for that wonderful english kaolin. well worth it, if you
want purity.
as for me.....25 percent kentucky ball.
and, it makes a very white clay..cone 11.
and, i love the way it throws.
i have always been interested in the throwing characteristics
of clay. whiteness is boring to me.
so...i mix stoneware clay with my porcelain.
i love it.
gray and very tight and stone like.
see, we each have a quest. no quest is pure.
it is our own. not always for others.
like art, like craft...we run our own ships.
it is the greatest gift in the world...being able
to make decisions, create ideas and take credit for being
`self`.
if it all goes to hell....you get to blame `self`.
and that is the big factor of `self`...you get the good and
you pay for being wrong. it is all yours.
i love gray porcelain....and i don't care what you call it....
it works for me.
mel
to make a set of pots with a show theme, like `tell a story` is the
most foreign concept i know. to change my style and quest, so i can
get in a show....god, what an awful thought. some could not understand
why i turned down the bourbon bottle show in louisville....well, first of
all, having a son die of that dreaded disease rather put me off, the
other reason is....i just did not want to make a bourbon bottle. i could
care less who was in the show....or that i could have been in the show.
not important to me. firing the glazes that clayart folks sent to me was
very exciting...and opening that kiln full was all i needed.
from: mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
Clayart page link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
David Beumee on tue 1 may 07
Mel's right. Noone is going to win the argument that "true" porcelain is made with no ball clay. Too many porcelain potters think differently. For myself, I prefer using a porcelain body that contains no ball clay, and I get my reward; unequalled clarity of glaze color because of a truly white background. I also pay a price in workability that is gained with the addition of ball clay. Each to his own.
Marsha is right. The finest ball clays in the world reside in Kentucky, but the whitest blend available, Old Hickory #1, will "correct" the workability of an otherwise white-burning porcelain body at a 9% addition. But the fired color is no longer white. That's the price that is paid. We are potters, and potters need really workable clay if we use a wheel. You can't blame people for wanting a degree of workability. But Craig Martell is right too. For those of us that have used no ball clay porcelain for decades, we've surmounted the difficulties that stoneware potters experience when they try to throw porcelain. We can make anything we want, and we do.
David Beumee
Porcelain by David beumee
Lafayette, CO
www.davidbeumee.com
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: mel jacobson
>
> purists want pure white, no ball clay.
> if your need is pure white..historic porcelain...go for it.
> several on this list are very excited about porcelain and want purity.
> then you pay for that wonderful english kaolin. well worth it, if you
> want purity.
>
> as for me.....25 percent kentucky ball.
> and, it makes a very white clay..cone 11.
> and, i love the way it throws.
>
> i have always been interested in the throwing characteristics
> of clay. whiteness is boring to me.
> so...i mix stoneware clay with my porcelain.
> i love it.
> gray and very tight and stone like.
>
> see, we each have a quest. no quest is pure.
> it is our own. not always for others.
>
> like art, like craft...we run our own ships.
>
> it is the greatest gift in the world...being able
> to make decisions, create ideas and take credit for being
> `self`.
> if it all goes to hell....you get to blame `self`.
> and that is the big factor of `self`...you get the good and
> you pay for being wrong. it is all yours.
> i love gray porcelain....and i don't care what you call it....
> it works for me.
> mel
> to make a set of pots with a show theme, like `tell a story` is the
> most foreign concept i know. to change my style and quest, so i can
> get in a show....god, what an awful thought. some could not understand
> why i turned down the bourbon bottle show in louisville....well, first of
> all, having a son die of that dreaded disease rather put me off, the
> other reason is....i just did not want to make a bourbon bottle. i could
> care less who was in the show....or that i could have been in the show.
> not important to me. firing the glazes that clayart folks sent to me was
> very exciting...and opening that kiln full was all i needed.
>
>
> from: mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
> website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
>
> Clayart page link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
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>
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>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
Thomas Malone on tue 1 may 07
Hello David. It is not from a partisan view that I express partial
disagreement with your statement that < The finest ball clays in the world
reside in Kentucky>, it is simply not wholly true. The Kentucky clays are
certainly world class but its not possible to say Certainly
good ball clays are rare but there are some exceptional ones in other
locations, including England and the Ukraine.
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