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clay times/ lead

updated mon 2 nov 98

 

John Baymore on fri 30 oct 98

------------------
Monona Rossol has a nice piece in the new issue of Clay Times on the
hazards of using lead based compounds in the studio. Important reading..
Check it out. Basically it says that for 99.9999 percent of the potters
out there....you don't have the knowledge or controls to use lead safely or
legally.

Great deal. Good sound advice.

However.......... Clay Times then completely dilutes the important message
in this piece by publishing a lead containing glaze RIGHT ON THE FLIP SIDE
OF MONONA'S ARTICLE.

Rather ironic. And =22mixes the message=22.

Those who have the depth of knowledge necessary to even consider using lead
as a glaze ingredient have the where-with-all and references to get glaze
formulas containing lead compounds elsewhere, or to just compose them
molecularly themselves. They don't need glazes like the one published in
Clay Times. And those who don't have the background don't need them
because they shouldn't be using them.

So why publish them in a venue like Clay Times and perpetuate their
possible use? Particularly in light of the stance put forth by the
decision to include the article by Monona.

Boggles the mind=21 =3Cg=3E

BEst,

.....................john

John Baymore
River Bend Pottery
22 Riverbend Way
Wilton, NH 03086 USA

603-654-2752
JBaymore=40Compuserve.com

Ron Roy on sun 1 nov 98

I don't want to belabour the point here - I admire ClayTimes for regularly
publishing information on toxicity - and the warning is printed with the
glaze - not to be used with the lead in for any functional ware - in bold
type.

It is also true that at cone 04 this glaze is short of silica - so even
without the lead it's questionable. If you add the lead the situation
becomes much worse.

It's a matte glaze as well - which should preclude it for the business side
of functional work.

RR



>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Monona Rossol has a nice piece in the new issue of Clay Times on the
>hazards of using lead based compounds in the studio. Important reading..
>Check it out. Basically it says that for 99.9999 percent of the potters
>out there....you don't have the knowledge or controls to use lead safely or
>legally.
>
>Great deal. Good sound advice.
>
>However.......... Clay Times then completely dilutes the important message
>in this piece by publishing a lead containing glaze RIGHT ON THE FLIP SIDE
>OF MONONA'S ARTICLE.
>
>Rather ironic. And "mixes the message".
>
>Those who have the depth of knowledge necessary to even consider using lead
>as a glaze ingredient have the where-with-all and references to get glaze
>formulas containing lead compounds elsewhere, or to just compose them
>molecularly themselves. They don't need glazes like the one published in
>Clay Times. And those who don't have the background don't need them
>because they shouldn't be using them.
>
>So why publish them in a venue like Clay Times and perpetuate their
>possible use? Particularly in light of the stance put forth by the
>decision to include the article by Monona.


Ron Roy
93 Pegasus Trail
Scarborough, Ontario
Canada M1G 3N8
Tel: 416-439-2621
Fax: 416-438-7849

Web page: http://digitalfire.com/education/people/ronroy.htm