tony clennell on tue 27 jul 10
Sometimes I wish I could go out to the studio and have ready made
garbage pails of some of my glazes. I don't enjoy mixing glazes. The
truth of it though is that necessity is the mother of invention. I
can't afford a garbage pail full of a premade glaze. What would 25
gallons of glaze cost $1000???? The cost of the materials is rather
cheap but yet I still use the rock flour from the gravel pit as
whiting cause it's free and the red clay from the ditch cause it's
free. It's not free really if you include my time. Slaking down and
screening my red clay slip took the best part of a dirty morning.
Messy work, not fun but I got enough to last me this year- a garbage
pail full.
The upside of this hobbyist market is that it keeps me busy with
workshops. Guilds are bulging with members that are anxious to make
pots. They are anxious to learn about using local materials and making
their own glazes. It just isn't being taught. How many guilds offer a
glaze course? Throwing, hand building, figurative sculpture- yes,
glaze making no! It's not instant gratification and you get 99
failures for every one winner.
I like to use glaze formula that I can carry around in my head. 3
materials tops. It is simply using complex materials that do the job.
Ash being one of those complex materials. I do wish someone would do
all this for me including firing my kiln so that I could just make
pots. It ain't gonna happen though so I continue to do it all.
Not such a bad life!
cheers,
Tony
--
http://sourcherrypottery.com
http://smokieclennell.blogspot.com
Lee Love on tue 27 jul 10
On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 7:28 AM, tony clennell wr=
=3D
ote:
> all this for me including firing my kiln so that I could just make
> pots. It ain't gonna happen though so I continue to do it all.
When done right, the apprenticeship system can be beneficial to
both the potter and his student.
--
=3DA0Lee, a Mashiko potter in Minneapolis
http://mingeisota.blogspot.com/
=3D93Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel
the artistry moving through and be silent.=3D94 --Rumi
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