Linda Blossom on thu 25 dec 97
Hello all,
A while back - maybe over a year or more, there was a thread about using
thick slip. Really thick. Using it sculpturally. I had tried it and found
that it cracked. Some of the suggestions were to add grog - use the same
claybody....Nothing really allowed me to apply really thick slip so I could
relive those old mud pie days. However, in my fun pushing paper clay to its
plastic limits I revisited this topic. I used a tile that was barely
leatherhard and scored it (didn't have to though) and really laid that slip
on. Had it over a quarter inch thick and then dried it over the woodstove.
Then I added some engobes, glazes and fired it. No cracking whatever. I
don't know if it would do the same over a different clay body. I did use
the slip though on a highly grogged body and on a paper clay body and it
worked on both.
Linda Blossom
2366 Slaterville Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850
6075397912
www.artscape.com
blossom@lightlink.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph Bennion
To: Multiple recipients of list CLAYART
Date: Wednesday, December 10, 1997 9:39 AM
Subject: AmericanStyle/ Mel's cider-sales
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Since reading Mel's post about his cider-sales I have been thinking a
lot about the direction of pottery and crafts in America. I dropped
out of the fair/gallery mill a few years in an attempt to bring my
work to a market closer to home. I have five open house sales per
year. I only send work to galleries ( one or two) willing to buy the
work at the same price that I sell to people coming to my shop. I
don't consign. I don't look down my nose at potters/artists who use
those venues for sales. I don't find them a comfortable place for the
work I do. They feel out of place. If someone is willing to buy the
work whether for their home or for their gallery it is OK with me. I
prefer selling my work to people who I get to meet when they come to
my shop. I also leave the shop open when I'm out so people can make
their selections and leave me a check or cash. It works well for me
and I am able to sell as many pots as I care to make.
Wendy Rosen's post on slide submissions got me motivated to write
this one. I've known for a long time that good color transparencies
are necessary for publication. That was taught in grad school. Other
things were taught there, not by precept but by example. I noticed at
some point after that schooling that, though I was talking about
domesticity, I was throwing and firing pots specifically for the
photographer/publisher. When I looked at a fresh batch of pots I
looked for the ones that had the potential of making a great
image...maybe a cover image or a foldout. I was imagining those juicy
images in print while I was selling the not-ready-for-print pots out
the door. The realization of where my priorities had drifted shocked
me and motivated me to pull my work from faraway shops and galleries.
I began concentrating on making pots that would not command a lot of
attention in print as much as they would bring pleasure in use; long
use it is hoped. I looked for ways to sell those pots to people who
live near enough to come here to get them. Eleven years after my MFA I
am happy to be rid of many of the notions I picked up in school and to
be selling 90% of my pottery at the point of origin. Please don't read
here a slam of academic training. I value my school experience. I just
picked up some bad habits.
Now, Wendy, for you as a publisher a picture is worth a thousand
dollars. For me a thousand published images won't ever equal the
satisfaction I find in knowing my pottery is woven into the fabric of
a thousand family's meal time. I enjoyed very much the free issue of
AmericanStyle that came to my mailbox this week. It was an education
since I don't get out much. The fairs and galleries who advertise with
you and who market the work you publish have different objectives than
I do. I respect what you do as I do the work of all honest artists and
wish you the best.
Sincerely
Joe the Potter
===
Joseph Bennion "stay together
PO Box 186 learn the flowers
Spring City, Utah 84662 go light"
801-462-2708
joe.the.potter@rocketmail.com Gary Snyder
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