Fuzzy Chef on sat 19 dec 09
All,
Zombies are usually handmade. Few voodoo priests do enough volume to
make it worthwhile to invest in machinery for faster zombie-raising.
When they do, though, look out!
--Fuzzy Undead
Kathy Forer on sat 19 dec 09
On Dec 19, 2009, at 1:30 AM, Bill Merrill wrote:
> Dry it and fire it using cow manure and wood (walk to get the manure) =3D
start the fire by friction, using no matches, fire it, now that may be a =
=3D
truely hand made pot. =3D20
The pot is not just the clay, it's also the fire.=3D20
The coconut shell the octopus uses for its home is a material =3D
transformed with the use of tools and made into a useful object. It is =3D
Octopus-made using a rock to split the coconut. The rock is a tool as =3D
well as secondary material as far as the octopus building its home is =3D
concerned.
Why would there be an artificial line between tools and materials? Once =3D
a material is transformed, materials as tools have acted upon it. As =3D
soon as clay is put into fire its pure state is transformed to a more =3D
complex one.=3D20
If transformation is essential to making ceramics, why limit its =3D
application to fusion by fire? Why would wood's only utility be as fuel =3D
for fire? Wood can as easily be a 2x4, twig or split log. What design in =
=3D
the sand says it can't also be used to shape clay? And what of the =3D
curious ores we find in the earth on the way to our clay pit, other raw =3D
materials also transformed by fire. Is it wrong to make things with =3D
metal earth as we fire our clay earth, and use those knives or rasps or =3D
loops as tools to help cut and form? Collecting, formation and =3D
transformation is the essential process in making ceramics, just as the =3D
octopus with its shell.=3D20
Ceramics is a product of all the classical elements, earth, water, fire, =
=3D
and air. There are many recipes to how we get those all working together =
=3D
but in the end we each find a way.=3D20
If wood is used to fuel the fire that cooks the clay, then its use as =3D
material and tool is integral to the ceramic process and unless =3D
restricted by the tree union, is paid wages and should be available as =3D
material and tool throughout the factory. This would not be the case if =3D
clay is formed and left to dry and dust that way in its impermanent =3D
earthen form.
Is the cycle so limited that wood (used elsewhere in the process) and =3D
metal (forbidden?) cannot be employed as well to shape the raw material?
"By hand" demands different materials and methods when applied formally =3D
to shaping wet clay or making ceramics. Once wood and fire are added to =3D
the clay/water mix, it's ridiculous to unilaterally assign circular =3D
limits to how they can be used. In making ceramics, wood can play with =3D
clay just as well as fire interact with water.
Clay forming hand tools are made from trees or other found or forged =3D
material. Other tools come from computers, pixels and vectors but that's =
=3D
another story. Our hands are our first tools. We use them in context of =3D
the materials and techniques that are available and chosen. It always =3D
comes down to art and technology.=3D20
Kathy
=3D20
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