KarateHiro on mon 16 mar 98
Before giving my thoughts on (3) Low-Fire Potters/Kilns, followed by (2)
Medium-
fire, as related to ITC, I should present a disclaimer on the truth in
science.
Not many people seem to realize that the so-called scientific facts or
interpretations do change from time to time, and sometimes all of a sudden
(called paradigm shift). Simple facts do not change that much, or cannot
change, but complicated ones and interpretations do. The facts here are what
scientists believe in when there is a high degree of agreements by an
established discipline or method of discovering and interpreting things under
investigation. It is rare to see a sudden change in ways of the science, but
they did happen in so many fields and that is what scientific progess is all
about. Theories and dominant paradigms are prone to change under rapid
progressive forces. For details I suggest a good read on Stephen Jay Gould, if
you are interested in pursuing this line of fascinating readings. A lot of
fun. From dinosaurs to earthquakes.
We do live in an interesting age. The information explosion has kept us all in
fires.
Just look at the scientific facts on food and nutrition. Our bread and butter
stuff. If you compare what medical doctors knew and they know on such matters
today, the knowledge base is really night and day, I tell you. The physicians
used to be the least capable in advising the patients what to eat, how to eat,
and the reasons why. The matter used to be referred to the specialist. Those
were the days when they could graduate with only a smattering of pseudo-
scientific knowledge on food and nutrition. Things have changed, at least one
course, or something, today. You know they have so many things to learn on
more important subjects in medicine. What a pity they do emphasize cure, but
not prevention. I don't understand why nutrition and prevention are
specialized field, and do not form the basis of medicine itself. But, my
common sense cannot cure the sick or the dying. And if the cure is not needed,
no money for witch doctors. I am no Kevorkian, the other extreme, so I have
nothing more to add. Just politics, politics, and politics.
My common sense gets me into constant trouble or arguments with the
specialists in the field. Why? The calories do count. But the calories counted
by burning food do not tell us what that food does in our bodies. Relying too
much on the calory count makes a person irritable, irascible, and
unmanageable, etc., etc. You can always bring a hungry, unmanageable horse to
you with a small bucket of oats with molasses sprinkled lightly on top. No
disciplines or training necessary. That is life on the farm. You do not
wrestle with a seemingly manageable heifer calf to bring her into the pen.
But, those who believe in their own physical strength rushes to that
judgement. A muddly wrestling match ensues. No way you can get control of the
situation like that. They are much stronger than they look. There are other
gentler ways. I hope you got the drift.
No fire, no pots. No heat, no pots. Just crumbling clay. And there are many
ways to get the same results. As they say, many ways to skin the cat.
OK. Science of heat can be both simple and complicated. At one end is the fire
children love to play with. The other extreme can be the law of entropy.
What's that? Never mind. That's a Ph.D. material. Kids are good at setting
things on fire. But they are not interested in controlling the fire. I say
that's what medium-fire potters/kilns are concerned about. Controlling things.
(3) Low-Fire Potters/Kilns. Anything goes here that suits your tastes. There
can be no hi-tech in bonfires. I routinely fired my pots in a very small bon-
fire, since my early childhood. I don't know why parental supervision was
circumvented, but I did play with fire. Practically everyone does in the open,
in the countryside, and so on.
Small bonfires are all that's needed to fire small pots or cook fresh potato
stolen from the nearby field (and eaten semi-raw). The size of that bonfire is
what the natives normally use. Small and comfortable, intimate, not energy
guzzling fire, in the private confines of their teepees. Or, on stones in a
riverbed. The city-slick western cowboys, on the other hand, love huge ones in
the open, and surround them publicly to toss around crude but wonderful horse
jokes. Very wasteful in fuel. But the Hollywood likes big fires. Largely
fictitious. No one wanted to gather the wood or horseshit to burn like that.
Destroying an old house is a reasonable alternative to keep such bonfires
going (someone on the list quoted Kakiemon for having committed this sin).
If potters wish to use such big bonfires (covered by paper or clay or cow
dungs), the more power to them. If fancy fiber chamber is the choice, good.
Sawdust? Fine. Pit to confine the heat? No problem. The only catch here is
that as the size of the bonfire grows, the amount of risk to your own pots
fired therein increases proportionately. You may get excellent results. Or,
nothing to speak of at all.
You see, ... ..., anything goes. The ITC? All the better. I am thinking
clearly here. No restrictions or limitations. The wilder the scheme, the more
respectable it gets. Why not spray it on pots, and see what happens? Use black
electric tape to mask portions of pots at varying width. We'll dearly love to
hear the experimental results on this list. The price of such a ready-made
glaze sounds ok to me.
Compared to that, raku temperatures are much higher, and hernce the high
tecnology item like ITC becomes more relevant. I would put it into the medium
fire category. Why?
About five hundred years ago when raku became the trademark for tea ceremony
ware domestically produced in Japan, raku was the high-fire, controlled fire,
ware for the period. Fueled by charcoal in a very small chamber, it consumed
an enormous amount of fuel for those days to have the clay pot get to the
temperature. Honest to goodness, that's where technologiy lied.
Charcoal fire is clean and produce a high heat. It had been the main source of
fuel to produce those traditional katana sword, made of titanium steel. The
famed Toledo steel in those days were tempered at lower heat, with less clean
fuel. The European steel based on regular coal had impurities and forged at
much lower temperatures. The clean high heat from charcoal was the key to
have the best sword in the world. In those days, small steel smelters were
moved around to secure the renewable resource of wood to be made into
charcoals. The technicians, katana kaji, to forge the sword spread to the four
corners of Japan, as time went by. Much like clay kilns. I bet a technology
transfer took place somewhere along the line. I have a few engineering books
on this subject, so you have to take my word for it. It's more than a mere
story. Others have spent lifetime pursuing the subject. I just summarize and
paraphrase the gist of materials.
In the scheme of things, then, raku should be considered medium fire for
discussion purposes. To underscore this point, I should say that raku wares
then could be produced by a large climbing kiln with more than dozen chambers,
as far as technologies were concerned. It is my theory that the raku
manufacturers politically maneuvered to have such large kilns destroyed (I
talk about the achievements ascribed to Ogata Kenzan, for example, since he
produced teawares also). Politics always get into the picture, wherever
sizeable amount of money is involved. I am not privy on ITC on this score of
money matters. It looks like it has rescued a lot of crumbling old kilns, and
saved a bundle in fuel consumed in medium fire electric kilns. So ITC must
have sold quite well, also.
At any rate, the upshot was that the raku wares gave good, comfortable
livelihood to those who produced them for centuries. Kenzan's achievement,
thwarted politically, put back the clay clock in Japan for centuries to come.
The government saw to it that the technologies belonged to the limited,
conferred monopolies. That, of course, fixed the technolotgical progress at
the level it had been. No new developments would come along. People's energies
had been diverted. And I started to see such effects, as I traced the recent
origins of the Japanese pottery. Now this is a mere story I am telling you.
The diffusion of Kenzan's technologies was slow and limited. Very unfortunate.
The political intervention and rampant commercialism were the culprit.
I shall go one step further. What goes around, comes around. The raku
tradition was upstaged after the Pacific conflict, when a North American
potter started to promulgate it as if it were his own invention. The original,
too keen about maintaining the political secrets, would not dare challenge the
upstart across the language barrier. They could not. Wthically or morally.
The art and politics do not mix. But there are so many who benefit from such
maneuverings. They do untold damage to "natural evolution" of technology that
could have profited the multitudes who may have blossomed into far better
artists/crafters.
Misconceptions and misinterpretations of raku, for this reason, abound. I tell
you that the glaze materials used for raku must have originated somewhere in
China or elsewhere in the orient. That should complete this marvelous cycle on
raku pottery. Does it not?
I can assure you that when an honest, serious potter says that you do not need
rocket science to build, maintain, and fire a kiln, I am getting an honest,
serious answer. As I have been told, simple scientific rules had better been
followed to be a successful potter (read someone who can produce great pots).
A good scientist, or someone who really understands the sciences, can explain
relevant scientific truth in simple terms. The simpler, the better. A poor
scientist can get bogged down in small details of no consequence to a potter
in real life. This latter type really confuses me. I cannot trust them. If
someone accuses you of simplifying things too much, therefore, you are in. I
can bet my nickel, dime, silver, or even gold on someone who tends to make
things simpler to be understand by a lay person.
I did not intend to climb back onto the soapbox again. But could not resist
the temptation. Hope I make some sense and help you in some remote ways.
With best regards. :-)
Hiro Matsusaki
Copyright 1998. All rights reserved.
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