george koller on mon 17 apr 00
Hello Clayarters,
I think Nikom's book will be an fascinating and instructional
read for clay people of many stripes.....
The book is based on his life in the Thai Pottery Village
of DAN KWEAN where he has lived and worked for the
last 10 years. It is a nice comfortable mix of text and pictures
- some history, notes on culture, and a lot about various clay
digging and processing techniques. There was enough
detail in his writing that I learned more than a few things
of direct interest to me about about kiln design, ash glazes,
clay compounding, tile making, and mural making.
Mostly I enjoyed the juxtaposition of problems I know first
hand on to a very different culture, a very different economy,
and an interesting place. Many things seemed to have
changed in the last 10 years - items with 300 years of history
such as their traditional village crucible product have faded
in importance even as new products such as fake sandstone
castings have been "discovered" and have become popular.
Nikom, it seems to me, is acting as a sort of time traveler that
has "seen the future" and has gone back to help the people of
Dan Kwean village to make the better decisions.
(I have no association..... my review is entirely unsolicited.)
==========HOW TO BUY....==========
==========Below is Nikom's note to me about his book ============
Well, I have finally gotten some books to the USA. My 14 year old niece
has
agreed to be my American distributor, so you can now get a copy by
sending a
check or money order for $11 (which includes postage) to:
Lisa Novak
13132 Valewood Rd.
Poway
CA 92064-4221
Be sure to make the check out to her, as I can do nothing at all here in
Thailand with a check made out to me.
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