Joyce Lee on fri 30 jan 04
When clay first found me and changed my life,
I immediately read references to Albany slip
and wanted some for myself.... not available=20
that I could ascertain. Then I tried Alberta
and learned from claybuds how to use it.=20
My attempts weren't terribly successful so in
time II
switched to Ravenscrag, which on test
pieces looks great.
The problem is, I've
discovered, that I have reservations about
using slips.... any slips.... I admire all those
wonderful Clennell, David H., Martell pots
so cleverly&informally decorated with slips,
but so far I'm not even close. Maybe this
time around I'll become more daring....=20
goodness knows the fear thing doesn't=20
affect any of my other clay work. I truly
rush in where wiser heads would fear to
tread..... but not with slips.
However, we do have a great local slip ..... in
one spot in the foothills of the Sierras .... where
the melting snows dump into a small desert
lake (a real lake; not a dry lake although the
dry ones
have incredible salts laden spots too ... a
scoopful once produced a beautiful burgundy
glaze/slip at ^6. Pushed to ^10, however, and
it was all over the shelves.... MY shelves!)
Anyway, this foothills/lake slip acts as I
imagine Albany would..... fits on raw clay or
bisque at about any cone...... doesn't run.....
(ran all the way down the highest mountains
in the contiguous U.S. Guess that was
enough running for one lifetime...) Fires a
deep velvety brown by itself..... with cobalt
added, it's an equally lovely black. I
don't know how one would get lighter colors.
If I could just get over the constant
ShinoShinoShino craziness, I'd experiment
more with the local and find out for
myself. =20
Maybe this will be the year.
Joyce
In the Mojave though at one time from other
climes ... where kids also stuck their tongues
to metal..... even in summer ...... any old
refrigerator ice tray compartment would do. =20
Then the goal was to entice other kids to
try it, especially doting younger brothers and
sisters.... mine or anybody's that happened
to be near. I think Lee Majors, who was a
neighbor and friend of the twins, was once a
victim..... maybe it was his brother.... Yeary
was his name then...... Harvey Lee Yeary.
I can hear Mama Luce now, "Meunier
Joyce Rollins, don't tell me they thought
of this by
themselves! It's your responsiblity as the
oldest to blahblahblah...." while aiming for
me with the raggedy broom ... as I headed
for the hills........ literally.... tongue hurting
somethin' awful, but not as much as Mama
Luce's tongue, by a long shot.
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