Edwards on fri 4 mar 05
Hello Anne, Wes,Lee and David: When I look at the history of pottery it
is only recently that anything other than wood has been used to fire
pottery with, maybe some coal or dung, but mainly wood. Glazes that we
now commonly think of as a cone 10 reduction glazes that are fired
regularly in gas kilns were originally for thousands of years fired with
wood. Now when you mention woodfired celadon some look at you like
"what are you putting a gas kiln glaze into a wood fired kiln for". The
"look" maybe, I'll call it the "flash and ash " glaze is the latest to
be converted to gas/electric kilns. People that use it will not be
"faking it". It will be in your artistic vocabulary. A tradition of gas
kilns.
I fire with wood because I love the process of it and what it does to
me. Finding, cutting,stacking, stoking, wood, and managing the fire is a
pure joy. I would feel cheated and incomplete without the experience. I
know that it is not for everyone, and I admire pots that are fired other
ways-- good pots are good pots, no matter what.
Wes-- maybe someday someone will be trying to get the Wes Rolley "look".
One can only hope.
Here is a link to two bowls from the same wood fire.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v11/credwards/Bowls/ One is a celadon
bowl that I find very inviting with little conflict, and the other is a
shino bowl that was in the fire box, very brash and bold. They are
complete opposites, one fire many "looks".
Hey David- what's that on yur boots padnuh- forty years a cowboy and
never stepped in shit, that's me. Heheheh.
Anne -- I think that my latest woodfired look may be , # three welders
glasses, long sleeve cotton shirt, my new blue weld-eze gloves that I
got for christmas, Levis, and a red bandana for flash.
~Craig
________________
Craig Edwards, New London MN
e-mail craigedwards@charter.net
http://photobucket.com/albums/v11/credwards/
Illegitimis non carborundum
Anne McGill wrote:
>It concerns me when artists are looking for the proper "Look". It is as if they cannot
>work with their own tools and ideas. If you have a gas kiln, what is wrong with the traditions
>of gas firing? Why does it have to look like it was fired in a wood fuel kiln?
>
>This is not to say potters cannot work with ash, or ash glazes. But to be seeking the
>proper "Look" always smacks of seeking what you do not have.
>
>The same concept is present in the building design industry. Buyers
>and designers are always looking for the new "Look". It can be traced through
>history. And, need we go further than the clothing industry? Instantly obsolete.
>Anne
>
>
>
Kate Johnson on sat 5 mar 05
> Hello Anne, Wes,Lee and David: When I look at the history of pottery it
> is only recently that anything other than wood has been used to fire
> pottery with, maybe some coal or dung, but mainly wood. Glazes that we
> now commonly think of as a cone 10 reduction glazes that are fired
> regularly in gas kilns were originally for thousands of years fired with
> wood.
Good point, Wes, and I think we've been thinking in far too narrow a box.
By woodfired "look," we seem to be talking about the flash and ash you
mention, but with the use of saggars, etc., a LOT of glazes on earthenware,
stoneware, and porcelain of the past have been a lot more uniform, smooth,
untouched by either ash or flash. Those lovely celadons, for instance, but
also the blue willow style stuff, the slipware, the mochaware I'm interested
in--if they show the effects of woodfiring, it is VERY subtle indeed.
A lot of 18th C. china is exceedingly elegant and untouched by flash marks.
Much of this early stuff has a transparent glaze over fine majolica or slip
decoration. No obvious woodfire look there, either.
Anne makes a good point about using what you have and celebrating that, but
there IS that creative vocabulary that we're interested in, as well. I'm
not trying to create a "fake" when I aim for the style of 18th C.
earthenware (I date everything on the bottome, too), but I love the
_effect_. I don't use lead glazes to get there (this IS America after
all) and I don't have access to a woodfired kiln, but I can't control my
passion for the period because of what I _don't_ have. I aim in that
direction and come as close as I can...and continue to try and try again.
(My one attempt at giving more of a woodfired look by sprinkling a bit of
ash onto wet glaze, by the way, was highly unsuccessful and quite spotty at
earthenware temps--I don't think I reported on that experiment. So...never
mind.)
Best Regards,
Kate Johnson
http://www.cathyjohnson.info/
Art, History, Nature and More-- http://www.cafepress.com/cathy_johnson/
Graphics/Fine Arts Press-- http://www.epsi.net/graphic/
Edwards on sat 5 mar 05
Kate Johnson wrote:
>
> Anne makes a good point about using what you have and celebrating
> that, but
> there IS that creative vocabulary that we're interested in, as well. I'm
> not trying to create a "fake" when I aim for the style of 18th C.
> earthenware (I date everything on the bottome, too), but I love the
> _effect_. I don't use lead glazes to get there (this IS America after
> all) and I don't have access to a woodfired kiln, but I can't
> control my
> passion for the period because of what I _don't_ have. I aim in that
> direction and come as close as I can...and continue to try and try again.
>
Hello Kate-- Thanks for the nice thoughtful post. IMHO a potter that
does the flash and ash glaze in a gas/electric kiln is using and
celebrating what they have just as much as putting in a celadon or any
other glaze. The fake would be to say that it was woodfired when it
wasn't. Simple.
If gas and electricity had been available sooner my guess would be that
many of the pots that were woodfired would have been fired in g/e kilns.
The focus is to make good and honest pots, that is where the effort
becomes noble.
You bring up nice points on being honest with yourself in what you are
doing and why you are doing it. We all can learn from that.
Cheers,
~Craig
Kate Johnson on sat 5 mar 05
Thanks for the kind words, Craig!
I can't
>> control my
>> passion for the period because of what I _don't_ have. I aim in that
>> direction and come as close as I can...and continue to try and try again.
>>
> Hello Kate-- Thanks for the nice thoughtful post. IMHO a potter that does
> the flash and ash glaze in a gas/electric kiln is using and celebrating
> what they have just as much as putting in a celadon or any other glaze.
Absolutely! It's magic, it's alchemy, it's creativity. WhatEVER it takes
and whatever we have to work with.
When I paint with acrylics using a watercolor technique or when I used them
in a more oil-painting fashion, it doesn't mean I'm being dishonest or
trying to pass off one medium as another, I'm just exploring and enjoying
the act of creation. Same/same with pottery. I love to see what I CAN do
with what's at hand, what's available to me. Sometimes, as in watercolor,
the "happy accidents" are the joy of the thing. Whether that happens in a
woodfired kiln or our old Skutt electric matters not the slightest.
Granted, I love doing things "the old way." I'm an old hippie, too, and a
former back-to-the-lander. I plan to try a pit firing, for sure. (Tried
using my chiminea to fire, without, um, satisfactory results...)
I've been offered a place to build a woodfired kiln, but by someone who
doesn't have a CLUE what he just offered. Anyway, may give it a shot
(it's at an historic site, and the kiln at another local one just shut down
a few years ago because of insurance concerns. Not at ALL sure this wild
hair wouldn't suffer the same fate...)
The fake would be to say that it was woodfired when it
> wasn't. Simple.
Exactly. Or trying to pass off my stuff as truly 18th C. (NOT that I'm
saying I'm to the place yet where this might actually be a possibility.
Besides there's the whole patina thing that only true age can bring...)
> If gas and electricity had been available sooner my guess would be that
> many of the pots that were woodfired would have been fired in g/e kilns.
> The focus is to make good and honest pots, that is where the effort
> becomes noble.
Bravo!
> You bring up nice points on being honest with yourself in what you are
> doing and why you are doing it. We all can learn from that.
Thanks again, Craig. I AM almost terminally honest--it's a pain sometimes.
But I don't mind admitting my disasters and mistakes, especially if it can
help someone else not feel alone in our shared "doofusness."
Best Regards,
Kate Johnson
http://www.cathyjohnson.info/
Art, History, Nature and More-- http://www.cafepress.com/cathy_johnson/
Graphics/Fine Arts Press-- http://www.epsi.net/graphic/
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