Linda Paul on sat 5 feb 00
<remarks don't even remotely apply to you. Still, they may be useful to
someone else, so I'll go ahead and get them off my chest.
[remarks/advice copied below]
This advice is probably not worth much more than you paid for it,
but I offer it in the spirit of helpfulness.
Ray [Aldridge]
>>
Ray-
I found your advice to be quite useful and appreciate the spirit in which it
was given. I really enjoyed reading your post (Re: All Time Favorite Glazes)
and found myself nodding in agreement throughout. I am relatively new to
pottery and a real beginner when it comes to glazes.
I have absolutely no background in chemistry, am in my late forties, do not
have my own studio (attend local teaching studio, cone 6 electric kiln). I
do have my own wheel though (Santa was good to me this past Christmas), and I
throw in the closet of my tiny New York City apartment, hence my screen name
"TheClosetPotter". I have been a lurker on clayart for a while (on and off)
and find it very helpful to read many of the posts.
I am in the habit of only keeping pottery forms that really appeal to me
(very few thus far) and have no qualms whatsoever about slicing through those
that don't pass muster and learn a great deal from them. I can observe where
I leave an excessive thickness of clay in the throwing and the trimming and I
can then use the sliced leather hard pieces to practice carving, fluting and
piercing so that I am relatively relaxed when I'm ready to execute it
freehand on a favored piece. I do not feel as though I have 'lost' a clay
form when I slice it in half; rather I feel as though I have gained a lot of
practice and information which can only serve to help me improve my skills
and that nothing has gone to waste in the exercise.
Not long ago, I purchased some raw materials in order to test a glaze recipe
from a book I purchased. I found the process to be rather exciting,
especially since fortune smiled upon this beginner and the kiln sent forth
quite a lovely finish on the test tile. The glaze 'breaks' on high points
and I now find myself intentionally throwing pieces that I will add texture
to so as to bring out the true beauty of the glaze. In this way I find that
the body and the finish complement one another and the piece seems to come
alive as a result. This outcome feels especially good and I would like to
revisit that feeling again and again.
I am again attempting to understand glaze formulation (this stuff is really
hard to grasp but I suspect it's really not so difficult in practice once one
'gets it'). I was thinking about giving up as I see a very long uphill climb
before me, what with the lack of a chemistry background and the lack of my
own kiln. I actually did quit for a while (about 8 months where I stopped
reading on the subject of glazes and stopped testing) but I've recently
started reading about glaze formulation again and exploring some of the
websites that offer tutorials for beginners. I learned a lot from visiting
http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/GlazeTeach, which is Lawrence Ewing's
elegantly designed website for the Matrix 2000 Glaze Calculation Software.
(Thanks Lawrence, your efforts are greatly appreciated! I have learned much
from visiting your site and progressing through the entire GlazeTeach
tutorial.)
I am happy to again feel infused with the desire to learn as much as I can
about glazes and found that I received a measure of confirmation by reading
your post that I am on a reasonable path in my approach to pottery and
glazing. I now have even more momentum and for this I send you a great big
'thank you'. : ) Your advice was worth considerably more than I paid for it
(smile).
Regards,
Linda Paul
TheClosetPotter@aol.com
New York
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Hank,
>In response to my request for clayarters favorite glaze, your comments are
>similar to many other established potters, namely find 1-2 good glazes
>develop them and familarize oneself with materials. But like most things in
>life, I think it depends upon circumstances.
(snip)
>hammered to death. I believe my shapes are pretty good and while I would
>like to work with just a few glazes, I am of the opinion that it would be
>best to find a few glazes I really like that could then be varied.
Tom, let me first say that I don't know your work, and so probably these
remarks don't even remotely apply to you. Still, they may be useful to
someone else, so I'll go ahead and get them off my chest.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to experiment with a large number of
glazes to find the ones you like best. However, there seems to be a
disconnect between form and glaze in your approach. Your post reads as
though you make a form and then cast about for a nice glaze to cover it
with. Ideally, this is not the optimal way to go, in my opinion. When you
sit down at the wheel to make the form, you should be seeing it as a
finished piece, in your mind's eye-- complete with decorative elements and
glaze. If you have a firm idea of how you want the pot to look when it's
complete, then it's a lot easier to find glazes that match the mental image.
I think that if I were in your shoes, rather than solicit "favorite glazes"
from a number of potters whose work might or might not appeal to me, I'd
pick out several potters whose work I really liked a lot, and try to find
out how they achieved those effects that you admire. Everyone does this,
to some extent. For example, I was and am strongly influenced by Leach and
Cardew and others who were giants in the days when I began to make pots. I
still derive a lot of my working aesthetic from those potters and their ideas.
I think this more focused approach might yield happy results a lot quicker
than the way you're approaching it now. You shouldn't worry that this is a
less creative approach either, because if you are a genuinely creative
person, you won't be able to keep from changing and elaborating on the
esthetic approach you've assimilated.
Lastly, it sounds a little like you're making pots just to fill the kiln,
even when you're not entirely sure you like the pots. Since you don't need
the income from every pot you throw, be more selective, and only fire the
pots you really think you're going to love. Cut the other ones in half
when they're leatherhard so you can see how the bones of your forms look--
this is the best and fastest way to excellent structure, if you can stand
to do it. Don't glaze a bunch of pots with glazes you're not sure you
really like, just so you can do a firing-- that's what glaze tests are for.
I've been making pots most of my adult life, I have lots of glazes I like,
but I always have several dozen glaze tests in every kiln load. For me,
that's part of the pleasure of the work, and every once in a while, I
happen across something I really like and can incorporate into my current
direction. In the last 6 months, I've done literally thousands of tests,
and have a half-dozen new glazes to show for it-- just to give you an idea
about the ratio of attempts to successes. (You can probably do much better!)
This advice is probably not worth much more than you paid for it, but I
offer it in the spirit of helpfulness. Hank's advice to look into Ian
Currie's glaze testing system is excellent-- I'm sure it would yield
results much more certainly than my haphazard program.
Ray
Aldridge Porcelain and Stoneware
http://www.goodpots.com
-------------------End of Original Message----------------------
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