ray gonzalez on tue 26 jan 99
As I sit here at the wheel preparing to throw, a thought enters my
mind. I am thinking about throwing "harros" or bean pots. We have one
here at my parents house that originated in Mexico and was brought back
several years ago by my parents. They use it weekly to make "frejoles"
(beans). It cooks and cooks, and amazingly the pot has never cracked.
I would hesisitate to say that the body is some magical terra-cotta
calculation as this poor country probably does little more than dig,
wedge, and build. I have read in "The Craft and Art of Clay" the recipe
for stove top ware. It would seem to me though, that using an open,
cone 10 body would work as well as anything. I am by far no ceramics
effecinato, in fact just a college student with 8 years in clay, but in
my thought cooking a pot full of water and "veanses", as my grandmother
says in broken English, over a slow to medium heat to 212^ for a few
hours would do little to a pot that was cooked to 2300^. Remind you,
this is just my thought, I ask your expertice. I have heard different
views on this subject. Many people sight that putting a caserole into a
350^ perheated oven will break the caserole. This I could say makes
sense. (a side thought: how has Corning Ware done it for so many
years.) Back to the point though, can I make this pot? Will it break?
What considerations do I need to make?
Any input is always appreciated. I thank you very much...
back to the wheel.
ray
arturo m devitalis on wed 27 jan 99
I am reminded of a lady out on the far end of Cape Cod, first name was
Ruth...no longer making pots but she was using an earthenware-looking
coffee pot on her gas stove that she had made
herself years earlier. I was too insecure to show my ignorance & never
asked her about the clay body she had used....she said earthenware never
cracked if it was heated slowly to moderate heat. Wish I had asked!!
Arturo DeVitalis
devpot@juno.com
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Vince Pitelka on wed 27 jan 99
>As I sit here at the wheel preparing to throw, a thought enters my
>mind. I am thinking about throwing "harros" or bean pots. We have one
>here at my parents house that originated in Mexico and was brought back
>several years ago by my parents. They use it weekly to make "frejoles"
>(beans). It cooks and cooks, and amazingly the pot has never cracked.
>Back to the point though, can I make this pot? Will it break?
>What considerations do I need to make?
A year or so ago there was a discussion about high-fired flameware (pottery
intended to go directly over an open flame), and the concensus of opinion
was that no one can afford to do this commercially in the studio-potter
market today, in what Garrison Kiellor calls "the age of litigation."
Pieces of flameware have cracked or exploded in use, and people have been
seriously injured. A number of potters were sued, and several lost
everything.
Low-fire bean pots may be a different matter, because the porosity increases
the thermal shock resistance, and if they did crack, they would do so with
much less violence than a high-fired piece. If it were me, I would not put
them directly on the flame or electric element, but would use a heat
diffuser beneath the pot.
Good luck -
- 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
Linda Gonzalez on thu 28 jan 99
Vince: Your reply is very interesting; however, people have been cooking over
flame with earthenware pots in Mexico and farther south for hundreds and
hundreds of years. I, myself have used the harro (some one) for 10 years. No
cracks, no explosions.
Vince Pitelka wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> >As I sit here at the wheel preparing to throw, a thought enters my
> >mind. I am thinking about throwing "harros" or bean pots. We have one
> >here at my parents house that originated in Mexico and was brought back
> >several years ago by my parents. They use it weekly to make "frejoles"
> >(beans). It cooks and cooks, and amazingly the pot has never cracked.
> >Back to the point though, can I make this pot? Will it break?
> >What considerations do I need to make?
>
> A year or so ago there was a discussion about high-fired flameware (pottery
> intended to go directly over an open flame), and the concensus of opinion
> was that no one can afford to do this commercially in the studio-potter
> market today, in what Garrison Kiellor calls "the age of litigation."
> Pieces of flameware have cracked or exploded in use, and people have been
> seriously injured. A number of potters were sued, and several lost
> everything.
>
> Low-fire bean pots may be a different matter, because the porosity increases
> the thermal shock resistance, and if they did crack, they would do so with
> much less violence than a high-fired piece. If it were me, I would not put
> them directly on the flame or electric element, but would use a heat
> diffuser beneath the pot.
> Good luck -
> - 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
Vince Pitelka on fri 29 jan 99
>Vince: Your reply is very interesting; however, people have been cooking over
>flame with earthenware pots in Mexico and farther south for hundreds and
>hundreds of years. I, myself have used the harro (some one) for 10 years. No
>cracks, no explosions.
As stated in my post, the real danger is with handmade high-fired vitreous
flameware. Of course people all over the world have been using earthenware
cooking vessels for many millenia. Porous round-bottom earthenware vessels
have more thermal-shock resistance than any other vessel type or shape. But
in the United States, in the "age of litigation, if one is making things to
sell in the open market, there are whole range of serious concerns.
Personally, in this country I would not advertise and sell hand-made vessels
for use directly over a stove burner or open fire.
Best wishes -
- 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
arturo m devitalis on sat 30 jan 99
Forgot to mention in an earlier post regarding my friend using an
earthenware coffeepot on her gas stove...she had a gadget called a
diffuser over the flame with the pot resting on the gadget.
Also want to add that a coiled earthenware pot I unearthed outside of
Geneseo, NY; and carbon dated 1000-1500BC, still intact with bones of a
dove inside...the nomadic wanderers must have pinched/coiled the
vessels, put their food to be cooked in them and set them in (or on top)
of the flamable material, then lit the fire and cooked both the pot and
the food at the same time!
Arturo DeVitalis
devpot@juno.com
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Jim Brooks on mon 1 feb 99
Has anyone..with all this information ..considered the legal aspect of
using/selling stove-top pots?.. What is one breaks and someone is
burned..will your insurance cover it?.. It seems to me that the risk is just
to high.. !!! If the early hunter-gatherers wanted to cook on the fire with
clay pots..that was fine.. if it broke they would make another..They didnt
have hungry lawyers..and greedy customers to worry about.
Judith Keep Block on tue 2 feb 99
Put a warning on your pot: will work in an oven, and the microwave oven, but
do not put on the stove.
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