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chinese glaze/study/mel's surgery

updated mon 30 aug 04

 

mel jacobson on sat 28 aug 04


i have been out of commission for a few days.
had my wrist fixed, worked on. nothing serious. it will
help me a great deal. good hand surgeon. quality skill.
i like skill in orthopedic surgeons, like good potters.

joe koons has been doing iron oxide studies for thirty
years. no one should debate that. i have a paper that joe
wrote in the early seventies. great stuff, but few pay attention
to it. joe and otto do not believe that iron is iron. it created a
check for one million dollars for otto. he smiled all the way
to the bank. otto, without question, has been studying for
over 70 years...i have almost 50 in. it would make me smile
a great deal to think....`we are stretching it`...hardly. iron bearing
clays have been the bulwark of my studio since the beginning. and
iron glazes lead my study. of course, we are not using any
rutile in any of our current glazes for jiang ware. just iron oxides.

i have been messing with my digital camera while not being
unable to work in the studio. still having trouble getting that
broad focus that i want. may have to pay more for a camera
to get that....or just use my nikon. but, these are good enough
for internet use.

on the clayart page there are three photos...
it is so those who have never seen a jiang pot
can see how we compare.

photo one is from our last firing. temmoku number three
base, temmoku number one over...three layers. fired with
a bit of reduction....the pots were a bit more mahogany.

photo number two is a thousand year old jiang hairs fur tea bowl.
joe has sent me several to study. joe has about a thousand of
these pots. mostly wasters from the old kiln site. he will give
us all the details when we publish our article in `ceramics monthly`.
i have been in contact with sherman about this and we have it
`sorta scheduled`. as sherman says...`get killer photos mel`. and,
we are working on it...about 200 slides done. i have at least
five more firings to go until i am satisfied. before the surgery i
made 125 pots to fire next week. they are ready to bisque.

photo number three is a new pot, just out of the kiln.

this should give folks a good idea what we are doing/with comparison
photos of the old pot. without question, we are rather pleased...but.
lots of work to do. 6 clay bodies to test, 14 glazes in combination,
about 80 total. everyone will have all the facts when we are done.
half research is not to be given. oh, yes, our history is sharing.
mel

From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: my.pclink.com/~melpots
or try: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
new/ http://www.rid-a-tick.com

Ivor and Olive Lewis on sun 29 aug 04


Dear Mel,
Wishing you a speedy recovery from that wrist op.
Now here is a sort of contradictory thought. You say <not believe that iron is iron. >> Perhaps you would be willing to
elaborate.
I can understand the there are many and varied sources of minerals
which contain the element Iron. I can also appreciate that the
treatment of these raw materials will influence the nature of the
product which is presented to us for use and change the effects we can
achieve. For example, some of the scale created in forging low carbon
iron will have a significant content of silica as well as Fayalite, an
Iron Silicate. The slag remaining from the creation of Blister Copper
during beneficiation of mixed Fe.Cu sulphide ores is again a potential
source of iron silicate. But the belief that Iron is not Iron needs
some degree of qualification. As I say, would you care to elaborate.
Best regards,
Ivor Lewis.
Redhill,
S. Australia.

----- Original Message -----
From: "mel jacobson"
To:
Sent: Sunday, 29 August 2004 2:30
Subject: chinese glaze/study/mel's surgery


> i have been out of commission for a few days.
> had my wrist fixed, worked on. nothing serious. it will
> help me a great deal. good hand surgeon. quality skill.
> i like skill in orthopedic surgeons, like good potters.
>
> joe koons has been doing iron oxide studies for thirty
> years. no one should debate that. i have a paper that joe
> wrote in the early seventies. great stuff, but few pay attention
> to it. joe and otto do not believe that iron is iron. it created a
> check for one million dollars for otto. he smiled all the way
> to the bank. otto, without question, has been studying for
> over 70 years...i have almost 50 in. it would make me smile
> a great deal to think....`we are stretching it`...hardly. iron
bearing
> clays have been the bulwark of my studio since the beginning. and
> iron glazes lead my study. of course, we are not using any
> rutile in any of our current glazes for jiang ware. just iron
oxides.
>
> i have been messing with my digital camera while not being
> unable to work in the studio. still having trouble getting that
> broad focus that i want. may have to pay more for a camera
> to get that....or just use my nikon. but, these are good enough
> for internet use.
>
> on the clayart page there are three photos...
> it is so those who have never seen a jiang pot
> can see how we compare.
>
> photo one is from our last firing. temmoku number three
> base, temmoku number one over...three layers. fired with
> a bit of reduction....the pots were a bit more mahogany.
>
> photo number two is a thousand year old jiang hairs fur tea bowl.
> joe has sent me several to study. joe has about a thousand of
> these pots. mostly wasters from the old kiln site. he will give
> us all the details when we publish our article in `ceramics
monthly`.
> i have been in contact with sherman about this and we have it
> `sorta scheduled`. as sherman says...`get killer photos mel`. and,
> we are working on it...about 200 slides done. i have at least
> five more firings to go until i am satisfied. before the surgery i
> made 125 pots to fire next week. they are ready to bisque.
>
> photo number three is a new pot, just out of the kiln.
>
> this should give folks a good idea what we are doing/with comparison
> photos of the old pot. without question, we are rather
pleased...but.
> lots of work to do. 6 clay bodies to test, 14 glazes in
combination,
> about 80 total. everyone will have all the facts when we are done.
> half research is not to be given. oh, yes, our history is sharing.
> mel
>
> From:
> Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
> web site: my.pclink.com/~melpots
> or try: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
> new/ http://www.rid-a-tick.com
>
>
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