: OffCenter - Viewing Profile

Biglou13, on 18 May 2013 - 07:48 PM, said:

When I started potting again (after taking a little 35-year break) everything was new to me again. The famous potters of my student and early potting days were all dead and things had changed. The first new to me potter whose pots blew me away was Stephen Hill. But what really impressed me was that this guy who was a student when I was and had come up in the tradition that all serious pottery was cone 10 reduction and spent his entire career making incredibly beautiful cone 10 reduction pottery, could suddenly stop and turn on a dime and reject all that and say, "Hey, I can do even better work firing in this humble cone 6 electric kiln." And, he's right. Putting a computer on the elec kiln changed everything. I've said in some other thread that the elec kiln is for this decade what cone 10 reduction was for the '70's, salt was for the '80's, and wood for the '90's. I love what you can do in an elec kiln, including doing sagger firings that are better than anything you can do in any other kind of kiln.

But, starting over makes me a student again and like most students, I haven't settled on one kind of pottery that I concentrate on. I love wood firing and every time the owner of middle Georgia's only anagama says it's time to start splitting wood I'm ready.

Jim

Pugaboo, on 17 May 2013 - 11:03 PM, said:

Thanks for the critique! I noticed in another thread that you're buying a kiln. Looks like you're getting all set up in your studio. When you're ready to start mixing your own glazes I think you'll like that a lot better than depending on commercial glazes. Glazing isn't just the last thing you do to a pot, it is an art in itself and well worth the learning curve. Setting up a glaze lab isn't nearly as daunting at it must seem to someone just starting out. A half pound or so of 6 or 8 of the coloring and opacifying chems and 20 lbs or so of the 8 or 10 clays and fluxes, a good scale and you're ready to go. This is in a thread about Steven Hill's techniques. When you're ready to start studying glazes I highly recommend that you buy "The Surface Techniques of Steven Hill".

Jim

missholly, on 14 May 2013 - 02:29 PM, said:

You should never depend on the glaze to make anything waterproof. Even if the glaze fits well enough that you can't see any crackle, there is very likely some there and water will leak through. Granted, it may be a very slow leak but it will leak. The clay you use should be mature and not leak with no glaze on it at the cone you fire it to. Any time you use a new clay you should test for leakage to avoid making pots that are going to ruin grand pianos.

Jim

Mark C., on 18 May 2013 - 07:52 PM, said:

What are you drinking, Mark?

Jim

Stephen, on 18 May 2013 - 06:06 PM, said:

I afraid that for me it was comedic only.

Jim