mel jacobson on sun 12 nov 06
is the one that you use, do every time.
organization is based on a system that you know,
and do the same every time.
it is the big flaw in ceramics.
take notes, use someone else's new system.
new glaze, new technique...never develop your own.
every day is research and search.
so, you live forever looking....never doing.
i just `ripped` a fine clayart friend a new thought.
`why go to school? why look for a new program?
why look beyond your own self worth? it is time
to get to work...your work, with your system.`
then i gave a very difficult assignment...in her own
studio.
we will see where it goes.
it does not matter what kind of bats you use,
what kind of clay, what glazes.
what matters is:
how many pots do you make a year, and, how good are they?
do they meet your standard?
i can't stand plaster in my studio.
so, i do not use it.
i need four bat systems, and use all four.
often i just spread an inch layer of wet clay on
my wheel and pound in a bat. never comes loose.
it all depends. i know all the systems...i just pick
the one that is right for the job.
i don't care what anyone else uses. never have.
i just admire those that get to work, make good pots
and repeat success.
some people spend 90 percent of their time fussing
over systems. never get any pots made.
i love wayne's pug mill. looks like a corvette.
but i will tell him:
`get that damned thing full of clay...NOW, AND QUIT
FUSSING WITH IT.` it is a clay making machine.
i washed mine once...18 years ago. but, it has been
full of clay for 35 years. never once empty.
i turn it on almost every day. that is how a pug mill
should be cared for. oil, grease, and full of clay.
debates on what system is best....is futile at best.
it is what works for you. then do it, make it work
and keep on going. an acquired system is like a great
glaze...it happens over time. then it becomes yours.
i don't like other people's ideas being whispered in my ear
as i work...`don't do it that way mel, do it my way`.
SCREAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
it is like letting other people drive your car. you know, the
guy behind you...wanting to go thirty miles an hour over the
limit...you watch him, and soon, you are moving your speed
up, getting mad. screw him...drive your own car, how you want
to drive...don't let him get behind your wheel.
same for your wheel. get a system in place, make it work, learn
it...and do it over and over and over...soon it is a part of you.
mel
the best system is the one you can use over and over with success.
from: mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
Clayart page link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
Ivor and Olive Lewis on mon 13 nov 06
Dear Mel,
You are entitled to have a good old rant now and then. But I think you =
are addressing people who have had the benefit of an apprenticeship or =
other long term period of ceramic education and would benefit from a =
period of consolidation. If those folk who are graduating from beginners =
and improvers classes were to read your thoughts and adopt your =
principles they would finish up having another forty or fifty years of =
total boredom making the same old forms and using those adopted well =
tried and trusted glazes.
In the past I have met chaps who have been full on production potters =
making high class products. This same story comes out. Total boredom and =
the need to recuperate, to find new challenges.
If you read carefully what you have written here you will follow your =
own guidance, abandon "Old Rhodes 32", go back to square one, start from =
first principles and systematically develop a glaze that you can be =
proud of as being Mel Jacobson's Classic No 1 Base. Have it ready to =
boast about at the next NCECA conference. I would love to be with you as =
you celebrate your success.
Best regards,
Ivor
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