Lili Krakowski on thu 15 jul 04
We do this a lot. And the disagreement is NOT about whether X is safe =
to touch, inhale, fire --for the potter and those in the room; nor =
about whether material X will, may, can, leach from a glaze, or under =
certain circumstances, and maybe but not necessarily cause bodily hard =
to "recipient" of the leachate; nor is it about what laws govern where =
and are they good,bad or what; nor about whether pots sold in stores =
without representation, are safe. (YOU make a cache-pot. BUYER uses it =
for coleslaw)
NONE OF THE ABOVE
The disagreement is one of personal safety and responsibility. Stuff =
Mother taught you. "Do not do unto others what you would not have them =
do to you." The disagreement is about risk-taking: Is the joy of this =
glaze worth the risk of a lawsuit that may happen, may wipe you out?
Some of us are, and I truly and honestly am in awe of them, trained to =
the hilt and beyond in chemistry, physics, medicine, and like that. =
They deal with and know what laboratories are, what laboratory =
conditions are, how to work within the scientific protocol, etc. They =
have microscopes and testing equipment, and I revere their knowledge =
and, to those like M. le Docteur Bastarache I owe an immensity of =
gratitude for their generosity with their knowledge. Merci de tout =
coeur.
And there are those like Ron Roy who live in the same ambience but deal =
daily with phone calls and letters--both about Tucker's products, and =
about his and John's book. And who knows there are people out there who =
have never dealt even with the notion of toxidiy, leaching, and =
chemistry. These people do not really understand at a profound =
level--so profound it almost is instinct--that while spaghetti sauce, or =
frying onions smell like bliss, and burning hardboiled eggs and burning =
sugar smell nasty, THERE ARE THINGS THAT SMELL GOOD OR BAD WHICH ARE =
HARMFUL, AND THINGS THAT DO NOT SMELL AT ALL AND CAN KILL YOU.
Then there are Antique Potters who grew up when all this dangerous stuff =
was not as yet diagnosed nor warned about. And who are over-cautious. =
Why? Because they know that not all is known, that extra care is =
needed, that few, yes few, potters have the knowledge and equipment to =
make the necessary tests. . And while we are still alive and well, =
we have lost coevals to toxidity.
Do mistakes occur? Sure. You misread point 5 as 5. Your scale is =
off. You are tired and cranky and want to "get it done".Your glaze that =
fires from c.4 to c.6 looks great--but--because a power outage you did =
not notice-- went only to c.4 and is not cooked enough to be safe with =
all that copper in it....Can you test as a factory would? NO. =
Factories can test every batch of glaze used, every batch of pots to =
come out of the kilns.
And there are novices and "hobbyists" who are not really sure about =
the difference between a dram and a gram.... Do we want them to take =
risks?
Last: There is a story I was told years ago and believe to be true. A =
family was found to suffer from lead poisoning. Every bit of everything =
in their house was dragged to a lab, and tested and every "manufacturer" =
slapped with a lawsuit. Among the sued was a potter. In the end it =
was found that his pots were ok, not responsible for the poisoning. By =
that time the man was ruined, lost everything, having to waste time, pay =
attorneys and so on. Is it worth it?
Clayart is NOT reserved to professional potters. We are not here to =
establish scientific truths. I certainly am not asking the learned to =
stop sharing their exquisite knowledge. I do think that we need to =
filter our advice through what we know of out TOTAL membership. The =
expert MFA potters; the volunteer at the nursing home who helps the =
semi-senile paint glaze on "bisque" piggie banks--both extremes are =
here.
Mel said that if you are not sure. you replace one spark plug at a time =
so you do not get the wires mixed up. Well around here, as I expect in =
Mel-Land, teenage males rip everything out, throw it on the ground, =
dive into the engine well with their tushies in the air, and ten minutes =
later, with wrenches and similar flying through the air, the truck is as =
good as new.
I beg everyone to take the one plug at a time posture in dealing with =
safety. =20
Lili, The Alarmist
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