John Baymore on sun 30 may 99
------------------
(snip)
=3ELead, manganese, cadmium, chromium, barium and even URANIUM, ALL have a
place if responsibly used. =3C
Hmmm dont know about Uranium....could someone please respond about the
safety of Uranium....isnt it raidoactive??..........Thanks Suzanne
(clip)
Check the archives on the uranium issue. It was discussed a bunch a while
back. It is at least silghtly radioactive...... you don't want to breathe
the dust deep into lung tissue. Check with Monona Rossol at ACTS for more
info. Check out Michael McCann's book =22Artist Beware=22 too.
I too thought that the =22jump down the throat=22 posting about the hazards =
of
lead glazes was a little rough. We should all exercise a little more tact
in such things. The message was OK...the method left something to be
desired =3Cg=3E. Some people are better at writing such things than
others..... so you also gotta' cut some slack for lack of professional
writing skills.
I think that the important point in all of this re-hashing of the
=22hazardous materials thread=22 is not whether something can or cannot be =
used
safely by SOMEONE, somewhere. The REAL question is ........can the
material or procedure be used safely by the vast majority being exposed to
the suggestion under typically accepted studio practice with the average
level of technical education?
Unfortunately, I don't think many of the really =22nasty=22 things =
(including
those mentioned in the original excerpted by the second post above) fit
this bill.
I am sure that a ceramic engineer with vast experience like Karl Platt can
handle barium carbonate and not pose too much of a risk to himself. He can
also formulate a barium containing glaze that doesn't leach unacceptable
levels of barium. Ditto for many others who have extensive technical
backgrounds and the necessary equipment.
The key issue is knowledge. And particularly.......... knowing a bit about
what you don't know. Without that deep insight......... you are opening
yourself to potential problems.
When one has been involved a long time in most anything, it is easy to
forget or misread the knowledge base of those who are less familiar...and
to ASSUME competency or understanding that simply is not a shared trait.
This is easily analogized to the classic inexperienced ski instructor
mistake of taking a student too far up the hill too soon. As a highly
experienced skier, the instructor cannot really SEE the pitch of the hill
clearly anymore. It appears flat to him/her. He/she easily gets the
student in over their head, and no effective learning can take place
anymore....just survival =3Cg=3E.
I am reminded right now of the poor individual who just posted to the list
about being in the 5th semester of ceramics and never being told much about
clays, glazes, firing, and so on. (Find another school =3Cg=3E) This kind =
of
stuff happens all too frequently.
I think that the reality of technical education in the ceramic arts in the
US is that there is not much going on. This is one reason why the =22Glaze
Doctor=22 and =22Kiln Doctor=22 sessions at NCECA are always so chock =
full.......
people are looking for a one-size-fits-all, =22quick fix=22 answer to stuff
that really should get a lot of study and understanding. And often the
questions posed are VERY basic.
Thank god for the Ron Roys, Richard Burketts, Tony Hansens, Paul Lewings,
Jonathan Kaplans, and other such folks who actively try to teach some real
understanding of this stuff.
So............... if someone with a solid knowledge of ceramics technology
posts a suggestion to the CLAYART list (or to CM, or to Clay Times, or to
PMI, etc) ..... it WOULD be nice if any necessary =22caveats=22 were =
appended
to the posting (article) so that the less experienced are made well aware
that there are some potential risks involved either to themselves or to the
users of their endeavors. There is a HUGE diversity of expertise (and
countries) represented on this list..... and most are
=22lurkers=22........never posting....just absorbing.
We don't have to create ceramic engineers out of all our art students......
but there should be a reasonable level of technical competence. And those
of us who have =22been around=22 owe it to the less experienced folks to =
really
think about what that =22shared knowldege base=22 might actually be as we
write.
Best,
.......................john
PS: I got a particularly =22hot=22 batch of black uranium oxide back about=
20
years ago from Cutter Ceramics..... after being told it was NOT radioactive
at all.
John Baymore
River Bend Pottery
22 Riverbend Way
Wilton, NH 03086 USA
603-654-2752
JBaymore=40compuserve.com
John.Baymore=40GSD-CO.COM
=22Earth, Water, and Fire climbing kiln firing workshop Aug. 20-29,1999=22
| |
|
