Barney Adams on sun 12 apr 98
Hello,
I'm rather new to this list and ceramics (I got my wheel a little more
than a month ago).
I'm already hooked and my kiln is on order ;-) . A friend of mine who
does some very
nice work is mentoring me. He has been out of the field for a while and
was suprised
when in the local clay supply catalog he found synthetic albany slip.
His suprise was
the "synthetic" part. His concern is that there is a health concern for
the regular old
non-synthetic albany slip.
Thanks,
Barney
Tim Stowell on mon 13 apr 98
Albany Slip is a naturally occuring clay found in the Upper Hudson River
Valley around Albany, NY. It is no more hazardous than any iron rich
slip. It was no longer being used for heavy industry and when the mine
was no longer profitable it was closed. Living in the Albany area I and
several other potters know of locations where veins of the clay can be
found. I've experimented with digging it, cleaning it and using and
decided it was too much of a pain in the butt, a good exercise though. I
do know of someone who tried to re-introduce it to the pottery world. He
prepared several tons of the clay and tried to sell it through ads in
ceramics monthly. It didn't go over well. He didn't sell much. His theory
was that it had been to long and that a generation of potters was being
born without exposure to Albany Slip, so they weren't ordering it. Also a
large amount of the "old timers" didn't believe him that it was real
Albany Slip.
Tim
Tim Stowell Gerard Stowell Pottery
Stacey Gerard 290 River Street
tstwll@juno.com Troy, NY 12180
(518)272-0983 www.trytroy.org/gerard/
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Tim Stowell on mon 13 apr 98
By the way. The synthetic stuff is not as rich as the real Albany Slip.
It's close, but, the slight nuances that can only be added to a glaze by
nature are missing.
By the way all opinions are worth the price you've paid for them.
Tim
Tim Stowell Gerard Stowell Pottery
Stacey Gerard 290 River Street
tstwll@juno.com Troy, NY 12180
(518)272-0983 www.trytroy.org/gerard/
_____________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
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