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"and then some..." sarcasm,crazy bisquemend long

updated fri 28 feb 97

 

stefan Jansson on mon 24 feb 97

------------------
=3E----------------------------Original message----------------------------

=3E I WAS going to ask about a paste to fill in broken spots in
=3Ebisque ware, but after seeing the crazy thread about cracks in greenware/
=3Ebisque ware/high fired ware, I'm scared to. =3B) I'm so confused by that
=3Ethread, I think I'm just going to tell that person their pot is going to
=3Elook funny for the rest of it's life.

=3E Julie in Seattle
=3E(Where it's beginning to look a lot like springtime=21=21 What a happy
=3Eclayarter I am now=21)


I have a hard time understanding what Julie means with her sarcastic remark
in her first message. I do understand she=B4s being sardonical above =
someones
head, signalling to others that she for one knows...something. I don=B4t
understand what she=B4s aiming at, though.Is it about mending bisque ware at
all or my totally unsientific experiment with waterglass and talc?

A potter in business wouldn=B4t mend a bowl that broke in two, but I =
couldn=B4t
imagine I had to spell this out. Or did My Swenglish go wrong somewhere?

Talc is sometimes used to help fluxing in a glaze, but it also has the
ability to sinter in clay. I think it=B4s that ability that=B4s the helping
part when mending bisque.

I have as I described, a bit too happily as it seems, mended my students
things with the mixture of waterglass and talc several times over the past
ten years. Sometimes added other stuff to it, for the colour or other
reasons. I haven=B4t seen it fail yet, although we might have had to fire it
once more to make it look good.
Depending on their sorrow over the broken thing, I=B4ve experimented in
different ways. Crazy ways maybe, but who cares if it works and they =
aren=B4t
about to be potters anyway. They want to bring this proof of their own
hands back home and be able to use it. I only mend if they=B4ve worked for
with it a long time , mostly they just get to do whatever broke all over
again. I can=B4t say I=B4ve done this lots of times, but enough to know that=
it
works when I=B4m doing it, with the talc I use.

I don=B4t use this with my own things, because when they break, they =
totally
loose form, so there=B4s nothing more to it. But I can imagine many kinds of
cracks that are repairable and doing so would save many hours of work
without taking anything from the form or in someway lessen the value of the
handcraft. I can=B4t see any harm in doing that. But I guess I see things
more from an artist point of view then from a potters point of view. (I=B4m
just trying to make you see that there are different ways of approaching
clay, I am NOT, if someone might want to think so, trying to brag by saying
this. I seem to care less about techniques than my potter friends, that=B4s
what I=B4ve noticed)

I=B4m sure someone can do calculations showing that this works or that this
doesn=B4t work. But my clay supplier, who gave me the =22recipe=22 says that=
this
is about the same thing as the commercial mix you buy.

So may who ever that needs it use it, and the rest may wait for exact
calculations, buy commercial stuff or sit there watching dust fall on your
broken sculptures on the shelf.
(Perhaps I must write this as well: those of you that have no broken
things, just don=B4t care about this)

Lottie Eriksson

JULIE ATWOOD on tue 25 feb 97

------------------


On Mon, 24 Feb 1997, stefan Jansson wrote:

=3E ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
=3E ------------------
=3E =3E----------------------------Original =
message----------------------------
=3E
=3E =3E I WAS going to ask about a paste to fill in broken spots in
=3E =3Ebisque ware, but after seeing the crazy thread about cracks in =
greenware/
=3E =3Ebisque ware/high fired ware, I'm scared to. =3B) I'm so confused by =
that
=3E =3Ethread, I think I'm just going to tell that person their pot is going=
to
=3E =3Elook funny for the rest of it's life.
=3E
=3E =3E Julie in Seattle
=3E =3E(Where it's beginning to look a lot like springtime=21=21 What a =
happy
=3E =3Eclayarter I am now=21)
=3E
=3E
=3E I have a hard time understanding what Julie means with her sarcastic =
remark
=3E in her first message. I do understand she=B4s being sardonical above =
someones
=3E head, signalling to others that she for one knows...something. I don=B4t
=3E understand what she=B4s aiming at, though.Is it about mending bisque =
ware at
=3E all or my totally unsientific experiment with waterglass and talc?
=3E

WHOA WHOA WHOA....I smell a definite misunderstanding. I am SO sorry if
I sounded snooty or sarcastic=21=21=21 Please believe me when I say I meant
nothing of the sort=21

When I referred to the =22crazy thread=22 I meant I could barely make heads
or tails of the many messages that ranged anywhere from attacks on
mending ware to completely irrelevant subjects...Most posts weren't even
about mending BISQUE ware but about mending greenware=21 In fact, YOURS
was the most helpful post I had seen in the entire thread...I have it
printed out, and I would be happily fixing my hapless uncle's broken pot,
but I don't know what waterglass or chamotte is, and no one I know knows
what it is either. I have since just sort of set the pot a little bit
further back on the shelf until I had done a bit more research.

The reason I said that bit of my post the way I did is, frankly, I was
scared of the responses I may get from asking a question that had just
recently been asked, even though I couldn't really sort out the responses
that were given. And I noticed, with chagrin, that many of the responses
were attacks on the idea of even attempting to fix bisque (or in some
people's posts, green) ware. I have nothing against fixing broken pots.
I would look down on a professional potter trying to sell me an obviously
broken-but-patched pot, but when it comes to those who have their first
experience in clay, make something they adore, and then the worst
happens, it breaks=21 Well, I would break my back trying to fix that pot
for them=21 I remember my first pot...sort of... I would remember it a lot
more if it had BROKEN...

The reason I worded my pseudo-request that way is because I REALLY don't
want to hear ANYTHING more about the to fix or not to fix philosophies. I
also REALLY don't want to be flamed for asking a question someone else
already asked...But in all reality, the =22answers=22 to that person's
question sure didn't help me at all=21=21=21 Yours will, as soon as I get =
my
hands on some =22waterglass=22 and =22chamotte=22.

Please forgive me if my post offended you...it CERTAINLY wasn't meant to
do so in ANY WAY=21=21=21 I was merely trying to squirm some extra answers =
out
of a question already =22answered=22 in a way that would leave me
unsinged.

I'm glad you said something, I would hate to have you think I'm a snotty
brat=21=21 =3B) ::grin::
Julie in Seattle
(who, once again, appears to have a foot in her mouth)

LizzardOL@aol.com on thu 27 feb 97

"waterglass" is sodium silicate.