ILENE MAHLER on sun 19 nov 00
If you guys are going to North Carolina could maybe Shelia give a demo
of making can handles I saw the pictures but like Truman You have a very
visual person who can only learn by seeing someone do it...Thanks Ilene
in Conn
clennell wrote:
>
> I laid awake thinking about these manufactured handles.
> I called them PEDESTRIAN and here's why. Saying that Fred Nettleship makes
> these is like saying Henry Ford III built your new pickup. These handles
> are common as thieves. They are in every clay supply shop from here to
> Sydney and Nome, Alaska. They walk they don't race. To pull a hard earned
> t-pot from the throat arch of our wood kiln and plop a CC handle on it, is
> like wearing a silk suit and a clip on tie.
> I learned how to make cane handles ala CC 20 odd years ago from Roger
> Kerslake. The cane is soaked and trimmed with a sharp blade. We at that
> time used copper pipe cut in little rings and buffed to hold the handle on
> since we didn't kow how to make the little rings that CC uses. It made the
> handle look unique and that is what I hope to do when making my pots and
> adorning them. I don't want a potter coming into our shop and seeing
> exactly what he/she saw in another potter's shop.
> If we were wholesaling pots to shops then perhaps we'd reconsider- NO, I
> changed my mind, we wouldn't! We'd pull a clay handle.
> Handles are an important element of our pots. They are the signature of our
> work. Too important to handed over to a manufactured handle to finish off.
> Cheers,
> Tony
> P.S. Phil Poburka actually ties and wears a real bow tie. A detail that
> speaks about care of making and process.
>
> sour cherry pottery
> tony and sheila clennell
> 4545 king street
> beamsville, on.L0R 1B1
> http://www.sourcherrypottery.com
> clennell@vaxxine.com
>
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clennell on sun 19 nov 00
I laid awake thinking about these manufactured handles.
I called them PEDESTRIAN and here's why. Saying that Fred Nettleship makes
these is like saying Henry Ford III built your new pickup. These handles
are common as thieves. They are in every clay supply shop from here to
Sydney and Nome, Alaska. They walk they don't race. To pull a hard earned
t-pot from the throat arch of our wood kiln and plop a CC handle on it, is
like wearing a silk suit and a clip on tie.
I learned how to make cane handles ala CC 20 odd years ago from Roger
Kerslake. The cane is soaked and trimmed with a sharp blade. We at that
time used copper pipe cut in little rings and buffed to hold the handle on
since we didn't kow how to make the little rings that CC uses. It made the
handle look unique and that is what I hope to do when making my pots and
adorning them. I don't want a potter coming into our shop and seeing
exactly what he/she saw in another potter's shop.
If we were wholesaling pots to shops then perhaps we'd reconsider- NO, I
changed my mind, we wouldn't! We'd pull a clay handle.
Handles are an important element of our pots. They are the signature of our
work. Too important to handed over to a manufactured handle to finish off.
Cheers,
Tony
P.S. Phil Poburka actually ties and wears a real bow tie. A detail that
speaks about care of making and process.
sour cherry pottery
tony and sheila clennell
4545 king street
beamsville, on.L0R 1B1
http://www.sourcherrypottery.com
clennell@vaxxine.com
Veena Raghavan on mon 20 nov 00
Message text written by Ceramic Arts Discussion List
>
If you guys are going to North Carolina could maybe Shelia give a demo
of making can handles I saw the pictures but like Truman You have a very
visual person who can only learn by seeing someone do it.<
Hi,
I would like to second Ilene's request?suggestion that Sheila very
kindly consider giving a demo on making cane handles. I am sure there are
many of us, who would like to make cane handles for our teapots, but do not
have the skills or know-how to do so. Like Ilene, I too learn more easily
from watching a demo.
All the best.
Veena
Veena Raghavan
75124.2520@compuserve.com
Martin Howard on mon 20 nov 00
So, Tony and Sheila, if I learnt how to use the willow trees that we planted
25 years ago; learnt how to cure the wood, bend it, seal it and fix them to
my hand thrown tea pots, that may be acceptable?
But they should not look like the bought handles from the ceramic supplies
shop?
Actually, I prefer to use clay handles, pulled over the top of the teapot.
It is then all the same material. But I would not like my pots to be judged
inferior because I used wooden handles out of choice.
There is always the danger that, having been sold and the willow handle
having worn through, to find that the pot is denigrated by judges because
the new owner had chosen to add a cane handle from the ceramic shop.
Oh, we can get so precious in following our love of pots.
Martin Howard
Webb's Cottage Pottery
Woolpits Road, Great Saling
BRAINTREE, Essex CM7 5DZ
England
martin@webbscottage.co.uk
June Perry on tue 21 nov 00
Maybe Sheila and Tony can make a video of Sheila making cane handles so all
of us non participating Clayarters can benefit from her experience! :-)
Warm regards,
June
Steve Mills on tue 21 nov 00
I also like some bought-in cane handles for my tea pots, the caveat is
their form should be in your mind when you make the pot, not an
afterthought.
I also on occasion make my own!
--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK
Janet Kaiser on tue 21 nov 00
Strange thing yesterday... Went to a North Wales
Potters' workshop held at David Pritchard's
studio. He has been potting since age dot,
following in his father's footsteps. During the
slide show of work over the past 25 years, my
eyes kept being drawn to the cane handles on the
teapots.
The pots changed considerably over the years
from 1970s ash and salt glazed, wood fired (made
on the Isle of Skye) to his present work: gas
fired, glossy glazes with lots of flecks and
happy results of oxides and controlled
reduction.
By the end of the show, I was unhappy... Those
handles had stayed the same. They were perfect.
Too perfect. They did not do anything for the
pots.
And it is all Tony C's fault airing his handle
fetish! If he had not said anything, I probably
would not have thought anything more of those
handles. Certainly not been distracted by
them... But that's how it works... Once you are
aware of a certain element, it becomes the fly
in the ointment.
I now can certainly see and understand why
someone judging a show, who has a distaste for
manufactured handles, would instantly dismiss
any pot with one on - especially when judging
from slides or photos. Imagine seeing hundreds
of pots by almost as many makers, only to see
each and every pot WITH THE SAME HANDLE...
I will be interested to see if this new
"insight" will prevail when I am choosing work
for exhibition and am confronted by a cane
handle... I probably will not be too
side-tracked, because then the handle is just
part of that pot or that potter's work at that
point in time. I don't know how it will be...
Will let you know in due course! I certainly
have no intention of banning bought handles...
It will just be interesting to see my reaction
to them.
I do know that some perfectly capable potters
are unable to make decent handles in this style
(over the top of the pot) in clay. They often
look far too heavy and clumsy for the pot. And
too high.
Janet Kaiser
The Chapel of Art . Capel Celfyddyd
HOME OF THE INTERNATIONAL POTTERS' PATH
Criccieth LL52 0EA, GB-Wales Tel: (01766) 523570
E-mail: postbox@the-coa.org.uk
WEBSITE: http://www.the-coa.org.uk
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