[Clayart] wood stove top humidifier

[Vince Pitelka]

Hi Dorothy - 
My wood stove-top humidifiers were made 35 years ago when I had Railroad
Stoneware in Blue Lake, California.  Unfortunately I do not have any
photographs of them.  I didn't make very many.  I was wholesaling most of my
work to kitchen/gourmet stores that were springing up all over Northern
California and southern Oregon, and they constantly wanted me to come up
with new accessories that their customers would purchase.  The stove-top
humidifier was one that I was trying out.  I sold a few to those stores, but
mostly I sold them locally in Humboldt County, thus the appearance of that
one at St. Vincent de Paul.  I feel the same as you when I see good pottery
in a thrift store, and always wonder about the circumstances by which it was
donated.  

The humidifier was like a casserole, with a flat bottom about 9" in diameter
to absorb heat, and with a lidded top opening only about 4" in diameter.
Around the outside of the lid gallery, in the upper curve of the humidifier
body, there was a row of 1/2" holes concentric with the gallery and about an
inch out from the vertical rise of the gallery rim.  The holes allowed
plenty of air circulation to carry the water vapor into the room air.  

It is important to note that this flat-bottomed humidifier would never be
placed directly on the wood stove, but rather on a raised trivet.   I
suppose it would be possible to design one with a raised food that could be
placed directly on the cast iron surface.  

Please let me know if any of this is not clear.  
- Vince

Vince Pitelka, 
Professor Emeritus, Appalachian Center for Craft, 
School of Art, Craft & Design, Tennessee Tech University, 
Now residing Chapel Hill, NC 27516, 
vpitelka at dtccom.net, 
www.vincepitelka.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:clayart-bounces at lists.clayartworld.com] On Behalf Of
Dorothy Parshall
Sent: Monday, September 2, 2019 9:06 AM
To: Clayart international pottery discussion forum
<clayart at lists.clayartworld.com>
Subject: Re: [Clayart] wood stove top humidifier

Two reactions:
1: It bothers me when I see wonderful pottery in a thrift shop; I want to
buy it all - but don't. Console myself  that the "collector" may have died
and heirs do not have the same appreciation. 

2: I went to google wood stove top humidifier, Vince Pitelka, with great
curiosity to see what you might have done with this idea. I live with a wood
stove as main heat source - and use a beat up metal sauce pan! Google did
not cooperate. Pinterest is a major nuisance - I guess I do not know how to
navigate. 

I would love to see what You  created as a wood stove top humidifier. 

Dorothy, Quebec and Ontario.

On Sep 1, 2019, at 11:28 PM, Vince Pitelka wrote:

>  The most recent was a
> few years ago - a woman who bought one of my wood stove-top 
> humidifiers at the St. Vincent De Paul store in Eureka, CA.

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