Janet Kaiser on thu 7 aug 03
Oh, Tig! That "parable" of yours (kept in its entirety below for
double archival exposure :-) was the most succulent post I have
read in a very long time! Thank you so much for making my day
"perfect" and no doubt bringing a smile to many another face in
Claytown too!
BTW I have only changed the subject line in the interest of
strict accuracy. The few UK potters I have spoken to about
gerstley borate and the likes have always shaken their heads and
dismissed them as "exotic imports". Ababi (Israel), Carol
(Dubai), Alisa (Denmark) and many others who live outside North
America will be able to tell you more about the reality... Just
as the number of potters in the USA who use the original
T-Material made in the UK are low, so the ghastly Gerstley and
other materials mined and produced in the US are little used
elsewhere. Yes, as soon as you start shipping raw materials
around the globe, they tend to be extremely/relatively expensive
and no longer an option for many makers.
Sincerely
Janet - just back from sorting a friend's PC problems, so she is
on-line again for the first time since March. Took 10 minutes...
Jubilant because she has been counting on the teenage son to sort
it all this time, but he has now flown the nest and left her in
the wilderness. I feel like a giant! I may not be as cute or as
sexy, but sometimes auld 'uns have their uses! :-)
*** IN REPLY TO THE FOLLOWING MAIL:
>In the beginning, there was Colemanite. And it was Good.
Colemanite made
>delightful glazes, because of various impurities and boron-rich
Ulexite.
>And the potters saw it. And they used it and it was good.
>
>In the fullness of Time, Colemanite passed on to the great Shard
Pit behind
>the Barn, and was no more. And there was Gerstley Borate. With
great fear
>and trepidation, the potters approached this stranger to their
midst.
>
>And they touched it, and they tested it, and they tried it. And
it was
>good. Almost as good as Colemanite. And the potters made glaze
after
>glaze
>with Gerstley Borate. Yea, filled many glaze books they did.
>
>They made red glazes, they made green glazes, they made blue
glazes. Oh,
>how they made blue glazes! And Gerstley made the glazes shine.
And
>Gerstley made the colors float. And Gerstley made the colors
run and
>variegate. And the potters saw that it was good.
>
>Then came the dark days of the Closing of the Mines. Dark
shadows filled
>the skies, and caused a deep trembling in the potters and they
were afraid.
>Gerstley Borate began to disappear. Some potters gathered unto
themselves
>the Last of the Bags of Great Gerstley, and buried their hoards
to protect
>them for the future when there was NO GERSTLEY.
>
>And they wailed, and they cried aloud, and they beat their
breasts with
>hakeme brushes, and they lamented, "Oh, woe! Oh, woe! However
shall we
>make our glazes without the Great Gerstley? Oh, Great
Suppliers, deliver
>(to) us!"
>
>And Hammil and Gillespie heard their pleas. And Ferro heard
their pleas.
>And DigitalFire heard their pleas. Many were the pleas, and
many were the
>answers to those pleas.
>
>And the potters saw the answers. And they approached these new
strangers,
>again with fear and trembling. Many had their triple-beams at
the ready,
>many had their calculators, many had their particulate filter
masks. They
>had software--Insight, Matrix, GlazeClac, GlazeChem... Armed
with
>knowledge
>were they, and they cried aloud, "How will this change my
glaze?" Loath
>were they to try the new. But in desperation, try they did.
>
>And lo, it was good. And they rejoiced. And made pots again.
>
>--------------------------------------------------
>
>The preceding parable of Replacement and Substitution has been
brought to
>you by the International Committee for Glaze Material
Substitution Sanity
>(ICGMSS), a sub-committee of the World-Wide Professional Potters
>Association (WWPPA). <>
*** THE MAIL FROM Dupre Mr Marcy M ENDS HERE ***
*** top of page reply was sent by Janet Kaiser ***
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