Ric Swenson on sun 30 aug 09
Hello from China...
OKAY.....ni hao...buenos dias....anyo ha sayo( in Korean)....ohio go sah i-=
mas... In Japanese), or Jambo... in African (kenyan) or asalam-ala-makum in=
arabic language......Hi guys!...bless you all....
peng you men, da jia hao. ( hello my friends)
and.... ni chi le ma? (did you eat?)
the bats still fly and consume mass amounts of mosquitos.....here in JingDe=
Zhen China...as else where..I imagine...I always watch the birds...everyday=
...whether I am in Atlanta or Anchorage...or JingDeZhen.....they fascinate =
me to no end. anything that flies....from birds to rockets....space craft i=
n 1969....to robins, hawks, eagles, ravens, crows, seagulls, swallows, chi=
ckadees, sparrows, ...even dragonflies... who live only a day..... and coup=
les of mourning doves outside my windows. Mourning doves? they hang out at=
gravesites....their sound is mournful?... maybe some say it is morning dov=
es?
As ever...
I revel in the red to orange to yellow sun....in the morning sunrise....it =
starts red ...then to orange....and finally to yellow ball....burning...I w=
atch it every morning and every evening....
like the kiln going fom red to orange to yellow/white....ever increasing in=
temperature.. can you not use cones...or T.C ...and fire by sight?. I can.=
..and do....but I still use cones....cause I need confirmation too...hehe.
ah...
radiant heat...of the electric kiln...moving slowly from one object to the =
next... ...from the element to one pot to the next....slowly....r a d i a =
t i o n...
vs the heat spread by 'moving gas and air'....... that we call convection h=
eat....moving heat...usually from fosssil fuels....wood, coal, LPG....etc..=
.it all works for us...heat work.....time and temperature...kilns of wood, =
oil, coal, dung,gas, electric...all magic stuff. low fire....high fire....a=
iming at a goal.
firing....the magic of the fire....with no fire there is no permanent work.=
.....no history of 5,000 years....and more.
makes clay into the the permanent thing we know as porcelain, stoneware, ea=
rthenware....ceramics...glass....and all the rest...and wonder...what will =
the hell happen...??? mysterious stuff huh? Magic.....xmas....opening the =
kiln is like opening xmas packages..does that glaze work with that body? =
will it craze? shiver? fit? look good? have wood fired magic? salt/s=
oda well?....ah.....we will live forever in it...
we wait and wonder....will it be Tony's woodfired work or someone else's pi=
t fired works...Judies? in Cambridge, Ma? primative firing?....the work of =
cone 5 or of cone 13? what is the clay? how do the glazes work? ...=
just ask ron roy....or try it for yourself....experiment...learn....
some of us can decicipher elements....some of us know RO formulation...as I=
do... from F. Carlton Ball...some use some computer software that can work=
through the chemistry...or mineralology of ceramics..
......when I could not have a gas kiln....for several years...on my own...a=
nd in the high school classrooms..we fired to cone 5.....we found a way...a=
fter much trial..works..Laguna and Westwood helped.
....to make it work....At Bennington Potters, in Vermont....after 25 years =
of cone 9....we gradually moved to cone 6....in a fast- ( 9 hour cold to co=
ld firing)- once fired -ware-tunnel kiln. eventually we had it working....=
.not easy...but it works....adjust the body...add 10 % KYANITE..dropped fro=
m 22 % loss to less than 2 %...big gains on 10,000 pieces per week. dry th=
e ware well..... finally made some profit! Oye.
I am enjoying the studio here in China....I share a small studio with some =
Korean students...here to do graduate work in ceramics...they learn blue an=
d white painting... and the Tang Dynasty techniques...popular in Korea and =
Japan...like the kimono dress.....or Chinese 'qi pao from the qing dynast=
y women's dress....the one with the slit up the side of 'Susie Wong.'...rem=
ember? Lotsa leg.....kinda nice....
....the glazes of China...tenmoko...ohata Khaki, oil spot, hare's fur iron =
glaze....etc...we fire to cone 13 and have vitreous wares. Porcelain at it'=
s finest. Blue and white and much more...
Ready to start another new semester here at the world's biggest ceramics Un=
iversity.....14,000 students ....studying porcelain/art/design etc....start=
ing Sept first....
you would enjoy the food, the ceramics and the low cost of living.
hope you can join us here..welcome to China.
happy potting y'all!!
Ric
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