Victoria E. Hamilton on sun 8 apr 12
Well said, Mel.
As human beings, our relationship with failure is very weak. In our
"culture" failure is considered a bad thing. Public failure is the worst!
We fail to recognize failure for the opportunity it provides to learn, to
see where we went down the wrong path or took our attention away from what
we are doing. As a clay instructor, failing in front of my students means =
I
get to explain what happened, how and why. I become more like them, in
their eyes, and it helps them to not be so hard on themselves, yet persever=
e
in the direction of the results they want. Over 40 years in clay and I'm
happy to say that my students and I continue to learn from each other.
Truly win-win.
Thanks for everything.
You da best!
Vicki Hamilton
Seattle
-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:Clayart@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of mel jacobson
Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2012 4:10 AM
To: Clayart@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: wood kilns for fun
i think james is on to a great idea. experimental wood firing kiln. small=
,
compact and easy to change and manipulate.
he is going to have a great deal of fun and learning time.
making a simple small flat top kiln is easy and most of the bugs are worked
out. they plain fire well and easy.
but, when you enter the wood firing arena there are lots of bugs and
hornets. it is much harder to follow someone else's plan, and just `know`
it will work to spec.
factors like weather, location, wind, air movement, forest, prairie.
what kind of wood do you have? what is the fuel history, is it going to be
around for a long time?? how much does it cost? how old are you, and how
strong are you? do you have consistent help? many things to consider.
and, it is still very doable. but, work out the bugs before you start. in
other words, know the boundaries.
as many of our wood firing professionals have discussed many times on
clayart...it is all about `fuel`. good, dry, very flammable wood. and it
takes time and effort to bring that fuel to your kiln. and experience is
the best teacher.
an example: at our farm we got two huge bundles of very dry cedar /used
poles. my god it was dry. anyone would say...`mel, you hit the honey load
with that wood.` but, after we loaded the kiln, started to fire, we found
the wood would not burn. it was all a dud. it simmered. we ran up the
hill to the woods, got anything that was down. chopped, sawed, scavenged.
we finally turned it all off. started over a month later with all new slab
lumber
from butch. and, we learned a big lesson. know your wood, make sure of
your source and pile up at least two more firings worth of wood as backup.
when we built our big wood kiln at the farm we felt we had the perfect
stack. nice and big and tall. donovan was confident. but, it did not
really draw enough. the next year we added about three more feet of brick.
bingo...worked like a charm. and, most of the theory of nils and flue
sizing has to change a great deal...the wood kiln needs a much larger air
flow. the flue grew. one size does not fit all. again, experience was ou=
r
teacher. we adjusted.
i think every potter on earth should have a go at natural fuel firing.
it puts you into a very clear historical position. `what did folks do
before skutt?` so much of what is happening in ceramics is getting formula
driven.
and, that is expected and will happen more and more as our world changes to
iphones and technology. but, don't throw out the baby just yet.
the bath water is still warm. the ready made, techno driven world can be a
curse as well as exciting. hand craft will always be driven by hand, eye,
mind and creativity. don't let someone else drive your car. be in charge,
don't give away the good stuff.
the struggle of art, problem solving and creative play and learning drives
us to get up every day. it is what makes being a potter worth everything.
if we let someone else solve all our problems...well you get it.
i watch and listen to the `ted` lectures on the science channel. they are
brilliant.
and, one theme seems to be alive and well...`observation, experience, trial
and error still are in charge of our learning. and, when we give up the
`concept of good error and failure` all learning stops.
look at public education and the concept of `no one fails`.....what a crock
of crap. we all fail, all the time...and we move forward with failure.
`fraudulent success is the stepping stone to national stupidity`. and
do we ever have to fight against that sort of philosophy.
the other day i was sitting on my porch with my 88 year old neighbor that
jumped out of an airplane over france, june 6th, 1944. he was
19 years old and he had failure on his mind. he had to make some quick
decisions as his parachute landed him in a tall tree...3 a.m. alone.
he said `no one prepared me for the next two days, it was just me, alone,
and trying to do my job. i learned fast.` he survived.
but, it is sort of like being a potter, crafts-person, artist. no one can
really prepare you for what is coming tomorrow. you just get on with it,
the best way you know how.
but, don't let someone else take away your failure. it belongs to you.
it is how you learn.
mel
http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart page below:
http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
http://www.21stcenturykilns.com/
William & Susan Schran User on sun 8 apr 12
On 4/8/12 12:29 PM, "Victoria E. Hamilton"
wrote:
>As human beings, our relationship with failure is very weak. In our
>"culture" failure is considered a bad thing. Public failure is the worst!
>We fail to recognize failure for the opportunity it provides to learn, to
>see where we went down the wrong path or took our attention away from what
>we are doing. As a clay instructor, failing in front of my students
>means I
>get to explain what happened, how and why. I become more like them, in
>their eyes, and it helps them to not be so hard on themselves, yet
>persevere
>in the direction of the results they want. Over 40 years in clay and I'm
>happy to say that my students and I continue to learn from each other.
>Truly win-win.
Here, here Vicki!
Always tell my students they will learn more from their failures than from
their successes/ Also tell them I'll learn more from then than they will
from me.
Bill
--
William "Bill" Schran
wschran@cox.net
wschran@nvcc.edu
http://www.creativecreekartisans.com
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