mel jacobson on tue 1 sep 09
the discussion about porcelain has been terrific.
clayart is able to bring forth many opinions and ideas, thank you members.
we must be aware too, that a new category of ceramic design has
emerged with the advent of cone 6 electric, and cone 6 reduction
sweeping ceramics.
this will mean that new glazes, down firing, and many other concepts
will have to learned, experimented with and refined.
this will take years.
we must again, look at how we describe categories of ceramics.
it too, must change.
when a category of ceramics changes, the clay bodies supplied, and
the glazes that fit will develop over time. some will be really good, some
will be failure.
most clay makers are building a "B" style clay. many are not really sure
what it is. that too, will take time. "B" clay is not the same as
old time standard
cone 10 bodies. it must be `learned`. many of the `B` clay bodies just ha=
ve
more ball clay, and maybe neph sy to flux it down a bit. how many
things change
when we make a clay body? not many. it still has the basic elements
of clay, fire, ball, epk, and silica, felds. etc. add talc, and take away
sand and grog, and the body is harder to work with.
back in the 60's, electric firing potters wanted a toasty brown clay,
it was hard
to find. they wanted that stoneware/reduction look. now many
electric firing potters
want a `white`, clean porcelain look. and that is great...but in many resp=
ects
the body is not porcelain, it is white stoneware.
thumpy, opaque white pots with `ready made glazes` do not fit
my aesthetic as "Porcelain". it must be translucent, thin, and fired
to hard vitrification.
it should be able to hold `acid`.
but, we live in a time when a great deal of the materials that we use as
potters are `supplied`. it is ready made. the more we rely on, and depend=
on
others to do the research and development of what we need, the more the
potter is taken out of the equation of `being a craftsperson`. and then yo=
u
just `get, what you get`.
we cannot just `buy the book`, and expect that all the problems are solved.
folks like john and ron more than understand that, and encourage people
to expand on what they have given you. it is not automatic. far from it,
it is daunting.
new glazes, new techniques and ideas will grow fast from this new direction=
.
but, please do not expect that taking any reduction/cone 10 glaze and firin=
g
at a lower temp is going to give you the same results by fluxing...it will =
not
happen. it will be a new glaze, new color and texture. in fact, it may be
better...one has to look carefully at what comes from the kiln...or, as
warren mac would say...`maybe the kiln will give you something that is
superior to what you can make. look carefully at what that kiln gives you.`
it is no different than my own work, firing to cone 13....it is different a=
nd
difficult. but, it is new for me, and very interesting. (no book for this
temp.) my take has been,
`when the world goes to cone 6, i am going to cone 13`....i need to be me.
the reason i get up each day is to look to the future.
mel
from: minnetonka, mn
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
new book: http://www.21stcenturykilns.com
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