Gail Dapogny on wed 2 jan 02
Craig said:
> When someone tells you "this can't be done", do it and see if they're
>right.
> It's good to know what the recommended procedures are and then you can
>take some steps outside the boundaries and see what develops. Don't let
>people convince
>you that you can't do this or that.
On the whole, I'm sympathetic to this advice, BUT...there are also times to
be prudent.
I know of two refiring cases where 1) someone had left a pot outdoors for
the summer, then brought it in, dried it and reglazed and refired it, and
2) another person put water in a bottle she had made (to see if it leaked),
then poured it out, reglazed and refired it. Guess what! In both cases,
the pots blew up and wrecked other pots.
In another case, I saw someone with a pot that had--during its glaze firing
--slumped at the base and subsequently had some deep "wrinkles" down near
the bottom. She mixed up some spooze and then stuffed a large quantity
into the wrinkles, then glazed over it and refired it. Of course it didn't
work; in fact it looked, after firing, like a minor volcano had erupted,
but fortunately it did not hurt other pots.
I do know that these were not the kinds of things Craig was responding to,
but still ...give some thought to such consequences.
.....Gail Dapogny in Ann Arbor
Kate Johnson on wed 2 jan 02
Hi Gail, Craig...
I agree that I need (WE need) to learn from the voice of
experience...otherwise I wouldn't be here so full of questions. But it's
a delight to know that some things I'd been told wouldn't work indeed CAN.
> Craig said:
> > When someone tells you "this can't be done", do it and see if they're
> >right.
> > It's good to know what the recommended procedures are and then you can
> >take some steps outside the boundaries and see what develops. Don't let
> >people convince
> >you that you can't do this or that.
And of course the fact that my little pot did work SO wonderfully well was
sheer serendipity! It looked good, and I am ready to try a more controlled
variation on that theme...perhaps not clay bodies that fire at different
temps, but different colored clays that fire in the same ballpark, why NOT??
>
> On the whole, I'm sympathetic to this advice, BUT...there are also times
to
> be prudent.
>
Oh, yes...what's been frustrating to me are all the times that I've thought
I did everything right and it STILL warped/exploded/leg fell off.
> I do know that these were not the kinds of things Craig was responding to,
> but still ...give some thought to such consequences.
Amen! There are some things that are just not going to work and shouldn't
be tried if you are at all responsible about other people's work in the same
kiln...but it's so good to know that there are times when the advice we're
given is just not quite on target and it's possible to spread the wings a
little.
Best--
Kate
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