Lili Krakowski on wed 27 apr 05
Despite my Basic Internet glaze Course, I am not arguing pro-domus here.
But there are two considerations.
Too many people never are TAUGHT anything about glazes, how they
are made, what of, what the process is and so on. These are the
unfortunate souls
who write in : " They had a nice blue glaze in my evening class,they won't
share the recipe...does anyone have it." Or "How do I make an xyz glaze?"
(Parenthetically I "amazed" a new fellow teacher once by
telling her just to photocopy my notebooks....She had studied with an
apparently well-known woman in NJ who thought glaze recipes were state
secrets)
So these people have no idea what is in a glaze, what ingredients do,
what the combo is and so on. Those people need to read the basic books and
try with pencil and paper to learn to understand what is being talked about.
I see no point recommending a computer program to such people. Programs
cost money. Rightly so. They must be hell on wheels to work out and all.
BUT I do not think that every newby needs to spend that $--no matter how
priceworthy the product.
After these people have learned a bit they either will want a program or
not. Did I say "Or NOT"? Yes. Because a lot of potters are not
interested in glaze qua glaze but just a covering for their pots. I do not
know why they need more than a pencil/paper knowledge, enough for them to
figure out what went wrong with their glaze stops " working".
For those who want to "do" glazes seriously a program (more than one?) is
a great great boon. Besides the Natzlers there have been other potters who
have worked together--one on the pots themselves, the other on glazes. Not
everyone is equally interested in both areas.
Yes. I invariably argue on the side of frugality. I "was" with Bonnie when
we made our own tools, and I still make most of my tools out of scrap. And
we built our wheels and like that. Potting was reasonably cheap. Today
this has disappeared and tools cost a bundle, and so does all else in clay.
I would rather not urge newbies to expenditure.
Yours, as cheaply as possible,
Lili Krakowski
Be of good courage
Ron Roy on sat 30 apr 05
Hello again Lili,
I have to explain something about this - different strokes for different
folks - maybe that is so - but we should be aware that there are some - and
I think more than half - who blossom with the help of a glaze program.
I am one. It was like being drawn into a whirlpool - at last a tool that
gave me the freedom to look at glazes and clays any number of ways -
quickly.
I saw what I needed to know and set about learning it - one thing leading
to another.
I am not alone in this - many of my students have made the comment - about
being drawn in.
It may happen when doing calculations by hand but it sure did not happen
that way when I learned back at Art College.
I also think that you never know who is going to take to it - there must be
some kind of mental set up that finds the whole business a very creative
tool - I know I feel about it that way.
The more potters who try calculation the better from my point of view - we
are going through a stage of discovery and I guarantee we will see great
advances in our craft because of it.
RR
>I see no point recommending a computer program to such people. Programs
>cost money. Rightly so. They must be hell on wheels to work out and all.
>BUT I do not think that every newby needs to spend that $--no matter how
>priceworthy the product.
>Lili Krakowski
Ron Roy
RR#4
15084 Little Lake Road
Brighton, Ontario
Canada
K0K 1H0
Phone: 613-475-9544
Fax: 613-475-3513
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