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Pioneer Pottery
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 Pioneer Pottery
Author: Michael Cardew
Pioneer Pottery is one of the classic texts in ceramic literature. Its author, Michael Cardew, was one of the seminal figures in British ceramics and this book, written partly in response to his time spent in Africa, has influenced generations of potters around the world.
This edition was brought out in 2002--33 years after it was originally published. Micahel Cardew’s son, Seth, himself a well-known potter, has written an introduction to this volume. A color section including photographs of previously unshown work is also included in the book. The text has largely been left unaltered from the first edition, as much of it remains as relevant today as it was then, and the book has become something of a historic document recording the methods and techniques of a generation of potters.
As one of the early and influential figures in British ceramics, Michael Cardew was asked in 1942 by the Crown Agents to go to Nigeria to set up a pottery training center. It was his experiences there as well as his previous time spent in the Gold Coast that formed the basis for Pioneer Pottery, a book that has influenced generations of potters around the world.
The text that remains unchanged is as meaningful for the present-day potter as it was 33 years ago.
CHOICE Magazine, November 2002
Pioneer Pottery is a superbly presented and classic work enhanced with excellent black/white illustrations and photography, and a new introduction by the author's son. An extremely solid reference to the art of pottery.
Midwest Book Review, The Bookwatch, Aug. 2002
Pioneer Pottery 368 pages, Hardcover, 170+ photos and illustrations
1. Geology for Potters
- Geochemistry; geology; petrology; igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks; and mineralogy
2. Clay
- Kaolin; sedimentary clays; clay analyses; plasticity; clay mineralogy; kaolinite, montmorillonite, illite; looking for clays
3. Silica
- Quartz, chalcedonic silica, opalline silica, silica in grass ash, silica as a glass-former
4. Felspar
- Structure, the feldspar family, recognizing feldspar, obtaining feldspar, effect of heat on feldspar
5. Other Raw Materials
- Limestone, other calcium minerals, wood ash, talc, nepheline syenite, lithium minerals, barium, strontium, zinc, boron minerals, alumina minerals, zircon
6. Pottery Bodies
- Plasticity, drying, firing, sintering, thermal expansion and dimensional changes, glaze fit, formulating a stoneware body, fireproof bodies, ovenware, preparation of bodies, dewatering and stiffening
7. Making Pots
- Kwali (Gwari tradition), Jebba (Nupe tradition), Vume (Ghana), Ilorin (Yoruba tradition), Hausa pottery, wheels, tools, kneading, throwing, lids and covers, handles, teapots, molded dishes
8. Glazes
- Glass, The Seger formula, fusibility, maturing range, crazing glazes, Chun glazes, copper reds, iron-red glaze, yellow glaze, pigments, mixing and dipping, double glazing, glaze defects
9. Potters' Refractories
- The silica-alumina system, sillimanite and mullite, grog, talc in saggars, zircon, aluminous cement, firebricks, thermal insulation, saggar-making
10. The Kiln
- Primitive open-firing, terracotta firing, high temperature firing, design, building, placing and setting, firing, cooling, firing defects
11. The Workshop
- The mill, grinding machines, wheels, the dryer, kiln shed, costing prices
12. The Product
- Function of the handcraft potter, pottery as a liberal art, pottery in education, pottery in underdeveloped regioins
Appendixes
- Clay tests
- Sampling
- Brick making
- Brongniart’s Formula
- Screw threads: Method of Cipriano Piccolpasso
- Screw threads: Potter’s tap and die-nut
- Ball Mills
- Square roots below unity
- Walker’s balance
- Calculated analysis
- Glaze calculation
- Thermal expansions
- Common elements occurring in pottery
- Temperature chart
- Thermocouple pyrometer
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