Lili Krakowski on sat 1 jan 05
Will you PLEASE get rid of the terbakker juice? Nicotine is a poison. =
No this is NOT about your destroying your lungs, blah, blah blah, it is =
that nicotine ingestion can kill you. Beyond that terrbakker juice =
stinks. =20
I use the strongest Apple cider vinegar I can find, straight from the =
Health Food Store and TEST. I would never contradict Robin Hopper, but =
in my experience different amounts of colorant per specific volume of =
vinegar are required. Also; not all slips work the same or as well with =
mocha. Nor all glazes. So 1. you are very nice to a baby and ask for =
his emptry baby food jars. 2. You pour vinegar in each jar and add a =
specific amount of your colorant. (Generally it is cobalt, or iron, or =
manganese) 3. you take a few different slip recipes (more, less clay =
vs. fluxes) put on test pieces and "mocha" them. 4. Bisque. 5. See =
how your standard transparents work on these.
None of this requires you to put on you Little Scientist Outfit. I know =
a lot of "stuff" is involved, I bet there are electrolytes in there =
somewhere, but this is a method for simple souls.
THEN: THE SECONDS BASKET--or WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE?
A number of years ago someone wrote a wonderful COMMENT in CM about =
going through potters' trash bins and finding treasures.
Now any thorough craftsperson will destroy bad pots, just as (as painful =
as it is) thorough and honest dog breeders will destroy puppies not up =
to snuff. If you are going to sign your pots (Please, not again! You =
prefer anonymity? You got it!) or adversize your kennel, you make darn =
sure the "product" that leaves your shop is perfect, or as perfect as =
possible. And the hammer gets the inadequate pots.
But aesthetics? I don't like this one? I wanted the blue lighter, the =
green darker etc.? That is what the seconds basket is about. Those =
pots that are perfectly ok, but you do not love. And just as there are =
parents who reject their young, there are strangers who see the child as =
ITSELF, not a "product" and adopt them. And there are people who will =
retrieve your pot and give it a loving home.
Yes it is the joy of the hunt. It also is the joy of emotional freedom. =
"Mitzi has placed that pot on high! With a floodlight on it!
And she has put that one over there--in a dark corner. But that on high =
pot is what makes HER happy. A grey thing with pumice stone like spots, =
the label says is a rare Shino whose recipe requires butter from virgin =
yaks, and water from a particular Nepalese well....but this little round =
brown teapot reminds me of home; of cosy mornings with Mum...."
When I ask "who do we think we are," that is just what I mean. If you =
pot to please yourself that is one (interesting) thing. If you pot to =
please juries and like that, fine. If, however, you pot as a method of =
communication, then listen to the Other. =20
To put it another way. I looked at that 500 teapot book, and some of =
those pots are fascinating. But if I needed a teapot there is perhaps =
one or two in there that I would like in my kitchen. where oh where am =
I likelier to find that homey teapot? On high on the shelf? Or in the =
dark corner basket. In clay as communication the Other speaks loud =
too.
"The stone the builders rejected, shall be the corner stone.'" No?
Lili Krakowski
Be of good courage
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