Rachel and Eric on mon 23 nov 98
< Pitfired is not the choice for functional pottery.. but it serves its
prupose well...You
These statements or beliefs about the non-functionality of pit fire
or porous ware are cultural. Within the industrialized, Western culture
from which the majority of clayartes come from one would not likely use
porous, low fired pottery for functional ends and as a result are unfamiliar
with many of its qualities.
In a very large part of the world such pottery is quite functional.
Indeed, pottery with a high-thermal-shock body fired to below vitrification
is the ideal type of pottery for cooking in in parts of the world where a
pot is set directly into the flames, be they from a wood fire or a gas stove
burner. The porous, open body handles the heat shock wonderfully.
It is absolutly true that such clay bodies fired to such
temperatures allow liquids to seep through the clay. This seepage, or
sweating, is very slow and not of signifigance when doing a quick process
like cooking. It is if you want to use the vessel for a flower vase,
especially if you set that vase on a finely finished wooden table. The
upside of this sweating shows its face in the 'water pot', a common item in
many non industrial households. A clay pot is filled with drinking water,
the pot sweats, the resultant evaporation of the moisture cools the pot and
water inside. Set the pot in your window and it will cool your room too. As
for the leakage, one standard solution, at least here in Oaxaca, is to place
the pot into a wide bowl filled with soil. Plants are planted in the soil,
the sweating water pot irrigates the plants. Garden, greenery and cool water
all in one.
The majority of pottery used in my kitchen on a daily basis;
caserols, large and small cooking pots, mugs, plates, bowls, water pot and
ladels, are all made with a high-thermal-shock body and probably fired to no
higher than 1300 F. I am only imitating what I see in every non-urban
household I visit in this particular stretch of Mexico.
Of course such pottery is fragile, a trait to which archaeologists
are very thankful.The potters are also thankful for it guarantees regular
return customers. It can not be handled like a cast iron frying pan.
My point is that pit fired (or similarly fired) pottery with highly
shock resistant clay bodies, fired at considerably low temperatures is
superbly functional, in certain applications superior to high fire, in
others inferior. It is the Original functional pottery, dating back to the
first clay vessels ever made.
Eric, speaking up for the Oaxacan potters and then some.
Rachel Werling
and/or
Eric Mindling
Manos de Oaxaca
AP 1452
Oaxaca, Oax.
CP 68000
M E X I C O
http://www.foothill.net/~mindling
fax 011 52 (952) 1-4186
email: rayeric@antequera.com
Dannon Rhudy on tue 24 nov 98
>< Pitfired is not the choice for functional pottery..
.. The
>
upside of this sweating shows its face in the 'water pot', a common item in
>many non industrial households. A clay pot is filled with drinking water,
>the pot sweats, the resultant evaporation of the moisture cools the pot and
>water inside. Set the pot in your window and it will cool your room too. As
>for the leakage, one standard solution, at least here in Oaxaca, is to place
>the pot into a wide bowl filled with soil. Plants are planted in the soil,
>the sweating water pot irrigates the plants. Garden, greenery and cool water
>all in one.
> The majority of pottery used in my kitchen on a daily basis;
>caserols, large and small cooking pots, mugs, plates, bowls, water pot and
>ladels, are all made with a high-thermal-shock body and probably fired to no
>higher than 1300 F.
>
Thanks, Eric, for this reminder. We forget all too easily.
Dannon Rhudy
potter@koyote.com
Vince Pitelka on tue 24 nov 98
> My point is that pit fired (or similarly fired) pottery with highly
>shock resistant clay bodies, fired at considerably low temperatures is
>superbly functional, in certain applications superior to high fire, in
>others inferior. It is the Original functional pottery, dating back to the
>first clay vessels ever made.
Eric -
You are of course completely right in terms of historical pottery usage
throughout the world, and contemporary pottery usage in many tribal and
Third-World cultures. But it is important to point out that there are
significant health concerns to be considered here. In cultures which use
unglazed, porous pottery for daily cooking and eating, children grow up
exposed to the bacteria which live in the porous clay, and develop strong
immunities. But if someone from industrialized western culture, with no
resistance to these bacteria, were to store moist food in or eat hot moist
from these vessels, they could get very sick. Apparently you have built up
enough resistance that these bacteria do not bother you. But it is
something for the rest of us to be concerned about.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
Home 615/597-5376, work 615/597-6801, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
lpskeen on wed 25 nov 98
Vince Pitelka wrote: But if someone from industrialized western culture,
with no resistance to these bacteria, were to store moist food in or eat
hot moist> from these vessels, they could get very sick. ...these
bacteria do not bother you. But it is something for the rest of us to
be concerned about.
NOT to mention the fact that many of us use coloring oxides/sulfates in
the pit, which I doubt reaches temperatures that render them harmless.
--
Lisa Skeen ICQ# 15554910
Living Tree Pottery & Soaps http://www.uncg.edu/~lpskeen
"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of
great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." -- Dante
"The opportunity to be threatened, humiliated and to live in fear of
being
beaten to death is the only 'special right' our culture bestows on
homosexuals." - Diane Carman, Denver Post, October 10, 1998
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