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jan walker/rutile

updated tue 2 feb 99

 

mel jacobson on fri 29 jan 99

one of the greatest things about being a potter is that things
change.......without our
help or guidance, things change.
everything that we dig from the ground has gone through a million
changes over
the years, and it will keep on changing....we cannot stop it.
so, one answer, is an old mackenzie phrase.......stolen no doubt from
others
that are older. `sometimes we have to look at what the kiln gives us, it
may be
better than what we can make by ourselves`.......(loose translation).
as we enter the science of the 2,000's we more and more want
total control of our world.
can't have it.
things run out, things change. we can store 50 lbs of rutile and hope for
the best.
i have a 10 lb bag of cobalt oxide that i purchased in 1959......it has
about 2 lbs. left.
i have bags marked jack wolfe, standard ceramics, a bill from fred
nettleship (cane craft)
hand written, `may our crafts blend together in beauty and harmony`. fred
1961.
but, none of it really matters, i have to go out make more pots
with what i have
available from continental clay, or minnesota clay and that will be very
different
from what i had in 1960. and, i think that is a good thing, not bad.
i still look forward to opening kilns....never know what the
hell is in there.
glad i don't.
mel/mn

Jonathan Kaplan on sat 30 jan 99

>
>i have bags marked jack wolfe, standard ceramics, a bill from fred
>nettleship (cane craft)
>hand written, `may our crafts blend together in beauty and harmony`. fred
>1961.
>
Hey howsabout some of this stuff...... Here's what I have..(eat your heart out!)


2 50 pound bags of true Albany Slip with the original orange labels on
them from Hammil and Gillespie from 1979

Fred Nettleships catalog from CaneCraft 1980 or so

A letter from Richard Issacs from Hammil and Gillespie from 1976 detailing
low expansion materials
for additions to stoneware bodies

An original Bluebird Manufacturing (from the Judson era) machined aluminum
1 1/2" threading tool for wet clay to make threaded lids. I have both the
male and female, the tap and the die, circa 1976 or so.

An original Bluebird Manufacturing catalog (again from the Judson era) not
only about their equipment but their studio practices using local
materials, processing materials, work cycles, etc. Truly a gem!Circa 1976
or so.

A Bluiebird 750 SV pugmill purchased in 1977.

Somewhere, I may even have some Pine Lake 50 mesh and some PBX fire clay.
But I don't know where!!

And many of the original Alfred handouts from which Val's Handbook is
based. Even the original lid sheet!! These are circa 1968!!!

It would be interesting to see what some others of us from "back in the
day"(notice I am not referring to us as old timers!!) have stored away!!

Jonathan



Jonathan Kaplan, president
Ceramic Design Group LTD/Production Services
PO Box 775112
Steamboat Springs CO 80477

plant location

1280 13th Street Unit 13
Steamboat Springs CO 80487

(970) 879-9139 voice and fax

jonathan@csn.net
http://www.sni.net/ceramicdesign/

June Perry on sat 30 jan 99

Dear Jonathan:

I did a mental inventory of some of my old materials. I think I have some PBX
fireclay, a bag of Yellow Banks (not sure if that's still available).There
are a couple of bags Kingman and Oxford Feldspars, half a bin of Albany Slip,
about a half a bag of Colemanite, a 5 gallon bucket of Calvert, a few bags of
Ferro Frits no longer available (2 bags of #3191. Can't remember the number on
the other bag #3292???? I'm doing this off the top of my head! :-) There's
another bag and a few small tidbits of other Ferro Frits that long ago bit the
dust. I have a bag of N-Spar (all soda. Don't know if this is still
available), some NC-4 Soda spar, small amounts of white and red lead (never
used, never will.:-( Backtracking -- I did use the white lead once in a raku
glaze and another time, in a emergency, to seal a gas pipe! :-(, and last but
not least, a tiny bit about (1/4of a cup at most) of spent uranium. One of
these days I'll get around to making that Kanjiro Kawai Yellow Uranium glaze
on one of my porcelain pots just for my private collection. I'll probably have
to display it outdoors and coat myself with the lead to avoid mutating into a
bad imitation of a glow worm!
I have a few other odd colorants. Cobaltous Nitrate is on one of the bottles.
I have no idea what to do with this liquid! It's a deep magentish/purplish
color. I got it from an estate sale years ago. I also got two brand new
Silicon carbide shelves for a dollar a piece at that same sale! Sometimes you
just get very lucky!
That's all I can come up with off the top of my head. It will be interesting
to hear what others have lurking in the dark recesses of their studios.

Warm regards,
June

Dale A. Neese on sun 31 jan 99

Jonathan,
Ouch!
You need not mention the Albany Clay. Such wonderful stuff. I saved a bottle
of mine fired 15 years ago with an Albany based Tenmoku glaze, so beautiful!
True pottery "is" Albany, cone 10, salt, wood,-- runs in my veins!
I don't have any earth minerals saved back, but I do have an original
edition book "The Story of the Potter", Charles F. Binns, London 1898, that
I think is pretty nice.
If you are not going to use that Albany and are going to Columbus, stick
some of it in your pockets. I could really enjoy glazing some pots with it!
Dale Tex
-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Kaplan
To: CLAYART@LSV.UKY.EDU
Date: Saturday, January 30, 1999 5:02 PM
Subject: Re: jan walker/rutile


----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
>i have bags marked jack wolfe, standard ceramics, a bill from fred
>nettleship (cane craft)
>hand written, `may our crafts blend together in beauty and harmony`. fred
>1961.
>
Hey howsabout some of this stuff...... Here's what I have..(eat your heart
out!)


2 50 pound bags of true Albany Slip with the original orange labels on
them from Hammil and Gillespie from 1979

Fred Nettleships catalog from CaneCraft 1980 or so

A letter from Richard Issacs from Hammil and Gillespie from 1976 detailing
low expansion materials
for additions to stoneware bodies

An original Bluebird Manufacturing (from the Judson era) machined aluminum
1 1/2" threading tool for wet clay to make threaded lids. I have both the
male and female, the tap and the die, circa 1976 or so.

An original Bluebird Manufacturing catalog (again from the Judson era) not
only about their equipment but their studio practices using local
materials, processing materials, work cycles, etc. Truly a gem!Circa 1976
or so.

A Bluiebird 750 SV pugmill purchased in 1977.

Somewhere, I may even have some Pine Lake 50 mesh and some PBX fire clay.
But I don't know where!!

And many of the original Alfred handouts from which Val's Handbook is
based. Even the original lid sheet!! These are circa 1968!!!

It would be interesting to see what some others of us from "back in the
day"(notice I am not referring to us as old timers!!) have stored away!!

Jonathan



Jonathan Kaplan, president
Ceramic Design Group LTD/Production Services
PO Box 775112
Steamboat Springs CO 80477

plant location

1280 13th Street Unit 13
Steamboat Springs CO 80487

(970) 879-9139 voice and fax

jonathan@csn.net
http://www.sni.net/ceramicdesign/

Stephen Grimmer on sun 31 jan 99

My back yard has veins of kaolin in it. Millions of years old. The crawdads
make white volcanos of the stuff. There is a town near here named Kaolin,
Illinois. Top that.

steve grimmer
marion illinois

----------
>From: Jonathan Kaplan
>To: CLAYART@LSV.UKY.EDU
>Subject: Re: jan walker/rutile
>Date: Sat, Jan 30, 1999, 5:02 PM
>

>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>>
>>i have bags marked jack wolfe, standard ceramics, a bill from fred
>>nettleship (cane craft)
>>hand written, `may our crafts blend together in beauty and harmony`. fred
>>1961.
>>
>Hey howsabout some of this stuff...... Here's what I have..(eat your heart out!
>
>
>2 50 pound bags of true Albany Slip with the original orange labels on
>them from Hammil and Gillespie from 1979
>
>Fred Nettleships catalog from CaneCraft 1980 or so
>
>A letter from Richard Issacs from Hammil and Gillespie from 1976 detailing
>low expansion materials
>for additions to stoneware bodies
>
>An original Bluebird Manufacturing (from the Judson era) machined aluminum
>1 1/2" threading tool for wet clay to make threaded lids. I have both the
>male and female, the tap and the die, circa 1976 or so.
>
>An original Bluebird Manufacturing catalog (again from the Judson era) not
>only about their equipment but their studio practices using local
>materials, processing materials, work cycles, etc. Truly a gem!Circa 1976
>or so.
>
>A Bluiebird 750 SV pugmill purchased in 1977.
>
>Somewhere, I may even have some Pine Lake 50 mesh and some PBX fire clay.
>But I don't know where!!
>
>And many of the original Alfred handouts from which Val's Handbook is
>based. Even the original lid sheet!! These are circa 1968!!!
>
>It would be interesting to see what some others of us from "back in the
>day"(notice I am not referring to us as old timers!!) have stored away!!
>
>Jonathan
>
>
>
>Jonathan Kaplan, president
>Ceramic Design Group LTD/Production Services
>PO Box 775112
>Steamboat Springs CO 80477
>
>plant location
>
>1280 13th Street Unit 13
>Steamboat Springs CO 80487
>
>(970) 879-9139 voice and fax
>
>jonathan@csn.net
>http://www.sni.net/ceramicdesign/
>

Mike Gordon on mon 1 feb 99

Hey!
Here in the S.F.Bay area they sell Sheffield clay as a substitute for
Albany clay. Sorry not even close. Why can't all the scientists
reproduce this clay?? I want it back!!! What a wonderful glaze it made!
Mike