[Clayart] Toxic Chems

[Jim Brown]

 Toxic this? Toxic that! " - David

I have never understood the, many times, hysteria about pottery and toxic
chemicals.  If even a small part of what has been said by many were true I,
and many, many others would have been dead in our early 30's or so.

Grandpa used lead based cone 04 glazes for years on part of the products he
made and cone 6 - mostly Albany Slip - on the "older" type wares.  The lead
based glazes were mixed in large - I believe #2 - tubs and many times this
was stirred using our hands with the glaze going up past our elbows.  The
glazed pieces were finished - mostly the bottoms given a quick wipe to take
off what little glaze was on the waxed areas - and over the years the whole
area where this was done was covered in red brown glaze dust.

The back of the shop was where the native clay was crushed into a fine
powder then pugged and dust from that was everywhere - never heard of a
respirator.

If I suffered any brain problems from the lead or other chems, I must have
been the smartest person ever to have lived before the damage because I
went on to become a Naval Officer and Pilot and for the first 75 years of
my life had virtually no medical problems and the ones I have had since
have nothing to do with either toxic chemicals or dust.

By the way, when the "big lead scare" came about and the government came
around and tested all of Grandpa's glazes, they all passed without a
problem so if formulated properly and burned properly lead glazes can be
safe.  But Grandpa, like virtually everyone else due to the publicity,
stopped using lead based glazes.

Just sayin'.




*                                    JIM BROWN*

*                             BROWN POTTERS*

*                  "Making handmade pottery . . . *

*                                                                  . . .
since the 1700's" *
                          *www.brownpotters.com
<http://www.brownpotters.com>*
*                        Don't call yourself a pilot until you have made*
*                  a night landing, in bad weather, on a WWll class carrier*
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