Ivor and Olive Lewis on tue 24 jun 08
Dear Kim Hohlmayer,
An interesting proposition but your quest must involve collecting a
vast range of commercial examples. I am sure your search will bring
you samples that satisfy your thirst but without precised knowledge of
their composition the work you achieve is incomplete.
Would it be better to investigate ways of creating your own blends,
formulated to become vitreous at Cone 6 using fluxes that did not
destroy the plasticity inherent in simple mixtures of Kaolin, Ball
Clay and Silica.
Best regards,
Ivor Lewis.
Redhill,
South Australia.
Kim Hohlmayer on fri 27 jun 08
Dear Ivor,
I took a day or two to digest your post before replying. The more I can learn about anything, the better. However, time, materials, space and safety equipment or lack there of are all issues involved in my choice to not mix my clay bodies from scratch. My art and my craft are not merely half complete because of this.
Let us reason together about that concept. If I were Georgia O'Keefe instead of Kim Hohlmayer, would you tell me my works were not complete because I did not make my paints from scratch or raise sables or boars to create my own brushes? Would I need to grow cotten then spin and weave it into my canvas? Probably not.
I have come to love science over the years and enjoy the technical go rounds on clayart. The more I learn about the how and why of clay, glazes and firings the better control I will have over my work. This is obviously a good thing. I do not, however, need to reinvent the wheel (potters or otherwise).
Because of my previous teachers, fellow potters and the wonderful information that travels back and forth across clayart I have learned what I need to know to pick bodies that work for my various needs. And honestly that is why I posted the original thread. Why blindly hunt around when I can get input from others. Yes, when I first started 20 years ago I made some poor choices but lately I have been very happy shopping for bodies this way. I love the variety I can achieve and all the amazing colors I can get without spending hours of my extremely limited studio time mixing and testing.
So thank you for the challenge and yes, I will go on learning all I can from folks like you but for now I will keep on shopping for bodies rather than the raw ingredients. Thank you again. :^) --Kim Hohlmayer
P.S. I love it when people make me think!!!!!!!!!!!!
--- On Tue, 6/24/08, Ivor and Olive Lewis wrote:
> From: Ivor and Olive Lewis
> Subject: Clay Bodies: The Obsession
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
> Date: Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 2:41 AM
> Dear Kim Hohlmayer,
> An interesting proposition but your quest must involve
> collecting a
> vast range of commercial examples. I am sure your search
> will bring
> you samples that satisfy your thirst but without precised
> knowledge of
> their composition the work you achieve is incomplete.
> Would it be better to investigate ways of creating your own
> blends,
> formulated to become vitreous at Cone 6 using fluxes that
> did not
> destroy the plasticity inherent in simple mixtures of
> Kaolin, Ball
> Clay and Silica.
> Best regards,
> Ivor Lewis.
> Redhill,
> South Australia.
| |
|
