Joyce Lee on sun 9 nov 03
Stephen said:
" when I accidentally fired the 7% clay meant
for low fire to stoneware it looked like lava. a total mess"
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The first load of bisque that I fired several years
ago in my brand shiny new electric Cress looked
like lava, also......... lava just short of total
melting where the shape was maintained but=20
looked as if it would start the flow at any second.
Seems I missed some vital info in all my
rapid reading about clay ..... had a smattering here
and a smattering there ..... with big chunks
missing so there was little continuity in my
understanding .... had not yet found Clayart.
I got the ^6 part, which was my
clay. And I got that my kiln fired to ^10.
AND I had a chart which showed approximate
temps for such cones. I was Ready to Be
a Potter............
I know that neither
Eleanor Roosevelt nor Stephanie would ever
DO such a firing ........ but ......... I fired MY
bisque to ^10 and left it there for awhile for
good measure. Until recently I kept three
of those pieces (I only had 6 small pieces in
my whole firing!) out with the basalt in front
of the house. Fit right in. Lots of small spherical
cavities. I learned to value these Blistered
Vesiculated Vessels ........ but
a Neighboring Wild Horse, newly adopted and
more wild than horse, tromped on the last
three pots in an apparent attempt to grind
and eat them. =20
Have I mentioned lately that
pottery/clay/art/craft has
led me down many an Unforeseen Path ...
mostly discernible only with hindsight.... ?
Very few with foresight......?
Joyce
In the Mojave where Enrique arrived at 6:00 am
to cart off our massive mound of trash .....
on his way
home after a night
spent working for the water bottling company
in Olancha..... whatta friend! He's made his
new garage into a Workout Center... looks
it, too. He&Silvia both have new svelte
shapes. Figures
that when he's eligible for citizenship, he'll
already be fully acculturated and Good to Go.
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