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traveling glazes and 2 girls mixing clay from scratch!

updated tue 3 nov 98

 

Amy Gossett on mon 2 nov 98

Yes this seems to be a constant with teachers about limiting glaze testing!
Unless your school offers a glaze testing and research class.
Professors, teachers, and clay-assistants dont have the time to fix what
someone who might have been mistaken in their calculations by grinding off
runny glazes!
As a student , I understand your point entirely! But as a teacher, which I
am, I can see their point entirely! Our college professors gave us only 6
glazes to play around with and we were told to try them out by overlapping
and undercoating, thru dippings and sprayings, etc...

But the funniest thing that ever happened was when my ceramics professor
told me (the eldest student-potter at the time) to make some clay. Okay I
was handed a recipe and so my classmate and I set out to make a HUGE batch
of stoneware clay. We were so proud by the time we had finished...we had it
mixed up in the mixer and bagged in no time at all...took us the whole day!
Well the next school day we set out to throw that CLAY! We were in such
amazement why our pots kept falling and collapsing?
We showed our professor and he felt of it (rolled it around his fingers,etc)
and then said, "where is that recipe I gave you?" I pulled it out from my
shelf...and he had this strange look like UH-OH......and then he grinned
from ear to ear!!!
Instead of stoneware clay ...we had made over a ton of porcelain-type clay!!
I tell you...I got my fill of porcelain that semester, and I learned how to
throw that stuff, too!!! The other students were so mad, only a few could
work the stuff!
from then on we gave him trash about not letting us make our own glazes and
he always replied that he would let "the girls" make the clay from now on!
Not a soul ever asked again about making "their" glazes!


Amy Gossett
Located in "Peachy" Albany, Georgia alongside the Flint River.
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-----Original Message-----
From: Earl Brunner
To: CLAYART@LSV.UKY.EDU
Date: Sunday, November 01, 1998 7:57 AM
Subject: Re: traveling glazes, Thank You!!


>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I am curious. Does you new instructor limit the glazes used to the few
>recipes of the studio? And does he/she test each new batch mixed? If in
>fact the REAL reason for discouraging testing is to limit the damage to
kiln
>furniture, there are easy ways to make yur test shapes that will
>automatically catch and contain any drips or runs. How can a TEACHER
>discourage testing and experimentation? Good luck with this one. Sounds
>too much like the ones that down play the value of learning how to throw
>well on the wheel.
>Earl Brunner in Nevada where Halloween is a State holiday!
>
>Jennifer Rhinesmith wrote:
>
>> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>> I'd like to thank Donn for this post. When I first started in clay I
>> had no idea how important glazing would become to me. I had a
>> wonderful, talented instructor who taught me all that he knew of glazes
>> and glaze making, still gives me advise. He has moved on to another
>> school, where I hope he has great students. The new instructor I have
>> insistes that I do not need to test glazes, because it may mess up the
>> shelves. I feel that the glazes and our recipies are like a painters
>> pallette. We must always mix new colors. I told my new instructor that
>> without testing glazes I might as well die. My glaze book is like my
>> Bible, I never leave it far from me. I fowarded this post to my new
>> instructor, hoping he will come to understand. Thank You Again,
>> Jennifer in Alpine
>>
>> >From owner-clayart@lsv.uky.edu Wed Oct 28 15:59:58 1998
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>> >From: Donn Buchfinck
>> >Subject: Re: traveling glazes.
>> >To: CLAYART@LSV.UKY.EDU
>> >
>> >----------------------------Original
>> message----------------------------
>> >
>> >when I was an undergrad there was this student that had this rutile
>> blue glaze
>> >he got from his aunt, man it worked great, but he didn't give it out,
>> it was
>> >his money maker, he would sit at the wheel and look at a pot and say"
>> yea
>> >they will buy that" and it was true, his pots leapt off the shelves
>> into
>> >peoples bags.
>> >
>> >what I find disturbing is this fact of not testing, I know people that
>> when
>> >they fire they ALWAYS have new glaze tests in a kiln.
>> >
>> >look if you want some great glazes Val Cushing sells a glaze notebook
>> for
>> >around 25 dollars I think, Lives in Alfred Station New York.
>> >
>> >and if other people want some more glazes I will scan my whole notebook
>> into
>> >my computer and send them off to you.
>> >that includes Anderson ranch, and the Kansas City art institute glazes.
>> And
>> >any other I can get my hands on
>> >
>> >to get great results WE HAVE TO KEEP TESTING
>> >
>> >I own a Giel kiln and if fires to cone 10 with two adjustments.
>> >people who are firing a kiln need to learn that a kiln is like a long
>> distance
>> >runner, and It is important to not trip that runner up. And I believe
>> that
>> >there are a lot of kilns out there that are built that work against
>> >themselves. If you are interested in what I mean I will elaborate
>> further ,
>> >but I feel we have gone over this in other posts.
>> >
>> >I have no problem giving out how I do things in clay, I figure that if
>> anyone
>> >wants to make my stuff and does it, then I will just rotate and make
>> something
>> >different. I feel this is where the delineation between art and craft
>> comes
>> >in, craft works from a tradition, art cuts a new path.
>> >
>> >My post about sending the recipe out is that if some glazes do not seem
>> to be
>> >giving the desired effect, to solve the problem a person needs all the
>> >information, glaze recipe, firing cycle, thickness of glaze. I want
>> people
>> >to have success in making pots.
>> >
>> >get a blender, blend up small batches of the glaze, make large test
>> tiles,
>> >inches high 2 inches wide, those 1 inch x 1 inch tiles are worthless,
>> double
>> >dip the tile all the way down and then to half, I developed a count
>> system.
>> >Develop a system for your glazing. When you are done throw the rest of
>> the
>> >glaze into a scrap glaze bucket, when it gets full of all those tests,
>> mix it
>> >up and test it, sometimes great things come of those scrap glazes.
>> >
>> >A potter can never have too many glazes in a notebook.
>> >
>> >the way I was taught about reading a cone is that the tip has to be
>> bent down
>> >even with where it comes out of the wadding it is stuffed into. I
>> think if
>> >you are firing to c10 and your 11 is down then it's called 11. I could
>> be
>> >wrong.
>> >
>> >Lastly I do not understand why anyone would hobble a new clay person
>> and not
>> >encourage them to test all the new glazes they can get their hands on,
>> I feel
>> >it is called developing ones own way with clay. Just because someone
>> has been
>> >using a glaze for 30 years doesn't mean that I will want the same
>> glazes I
>> >use today 30 years later.
>> >
>> >
>> >Donn Buchfinck
>> >
>> >
>>
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