marianne kuiper milks on wed 26 jul 06
Dear people who are so kind to put in time, energy, patience and what have you.
I've taken a class from JH and learned so much about substitutions, glaze ingredients and chemistry. I took a class at Alfred and learned all about the tiny little things that matter. I read books, listened to Lili over and over as she patiently filled in the gaps.
But I still did not get the most simple of all: how does one know which chemicals to choose and why. Next balance and testing. The "beginning" is simply too complicated. Had I been born with a better, higher-functioning brain I would have probably understood it ALL all along. But no..
Thank you Hank and thank you Steve, for knowing what I was looking for. I am reading now what has spun off from that and I feel good.
On my trip to NC I tripped over Barnes and Noble, where I fell nose-first into two books that made churchbells ring in my head: all was put together and now I GET IT.
Now testing is fun, makes sense and chemicals, choices and amounts/ substitutions suddenly make all the sense in the world. Testing, for me, didn't mean anything until I went back to the bottom. I did it, but only because I was told. What I was testing beyond colors was a mystery behind closed curtains.
In 7th grade I refused to do my algebra (no joke!) until the teacher gave in and told me WHY we had to do algebra. Rebel to the core.
The books I picked up to add to my marvelous collection are:
The Complete Potter by Steve Mattison. Filled important gaps.$26,95, Barron's.
The Ceramic Glaze Handbook by Mark Burleson. Lark Ceramics bk, $24.95 and worth every penny.
A suggestion to those who teach BEGINNER classes:
We do NOT know what Terra Sigillata is. Recipe, hands-on example.
We have no clue what staines are. Or Sgrafitto. Don't just show: let us do it.
Make lists of chemicals that belong in the same category, or have us buy pre-mixed glazes. And if you have glazes ready to use, great big buckets full, have students make samples and test them and test one over the other.
I learned some of this in one of the classes I took - the rest skimmed over it.
There's so much more than mud to play with and there is no need to bombard students with all of one and none of the other.
In Holland we, as children, had to make "samplers", mini show-pieces, of everything we learned. Works well.
Thank you all, may the pots be with you and your life be richly sculpted with joy.
Marianne
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