Chris Schafale on fri 14 aug 98
Thanks to all who responded to my wail for help on cracking. By far
the majority opinion seemed to be to blame the clay and change clay
bodies. I especially appreciated the suggestion from "Curse-the-Dark
Pottery" about finding a good match between potter and clay -- this
gets me off the hook of feeling bad because thousands of other
potters undoubtedly use 112 without any cracking problem, so what's
wrong with me. Unfortunately, I can't change to a completely
different body, because I'm still tied to the ole community studio
for firing. (Yet another argument for why I have to get my own kiln
sooner rather than later). In the meantime, I'll try adding grog and
see what that does (no more baby-pooh for me, mel!!). And I'm
compressing "outside to inside." And I've got a batch of pitchers
that I made with "upside-down" clay, so we'll soon know if that
helped. And I'm being obsessive about evenly-thick walls and bases.
And I'm trying using cloth instead of plastic to cover things. If
all else fails, I'll give up my beloved, otherwise so
convenient, non-warping, indestructible plastic bats. If any of
that works, you'll know by the shrieks of delight from central NC.
Thanks again to all. I thank you, shy potters everywhere thank you.
Chris
Light One Candle Pottery
Fuquay-Varina, NC
candle@nuteknet.com
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