[Clayart] all the things can right or wrong

[Robert Harris]

It’s also worthwhile remembering when we see those fabulous hare's fur and
partridge feather pots that only the most spectacular were precious enough
to survive and the majority of those 50000 pots were just plain black
glazed pots.
In modern times we seek to recreate treasures of 1000 years ago, with 100%
(or near to it) success rates(and some places and people manage it!). But
that simply never happened in the time periods we look at. The shard piles
around the old kilns are absolutely immense and were all the true failures
(let alone good sellable potsp without spectacular spotting etc).

On Fri, Jan 31, 2020 at 5:29 AM mel jacobson <melpots at mail.com> wrote:

> i always look at carols posts. it is such a great reminder
> to all of us that `everything matters`.
>
> you don't copy a recipe, make it, dip your pots and get
> some sort of perfect results. `call perry at skutt, have him
> program your kiln computer again`  and a favorite `mel, my brent wheel
> is not totally flat, it is off by 10/32's.  i think it affects my
> throwing.`  the guy i met in madras, india was throwing on a cow cart wheel
> with animal fat on the hub, sitting on a smooth rock...turned it by hand.
> he straddled the wheel
> and it went up and down about two inches as it spun. he moved his body
> in rhythm with the dip.  he made damn fine pots.  charged me like 10 rupees
> to watch him. (about 5 cents.) i gave him an american five dollar bill
> and he pee'd his pants.
>
> think of the jian wood fired kilns in the year 600. hare's fur, oil spot
> partridge feather glazes. why?
> 150 meters long, up a hill. fired with wood, mostly pine.
> thousands of pots inside. 15 chambers.
> `hey chang, what's the weather forcast?` yah. and they fired
> over days.  what does the pyrometer say? oh, no pyrometer, or
> digital read out. mr. chee read the color of the fire. what's the temp?
> `where the hell is mrs. thom and the extra thousand sticks of wood?
> we ain't gonna be done for 16 more hours.`
>
> barometer spikes up.  the fire changes.
> cold weather hits during the cool down, takes ten extra days
> sitting at 1900F.  would the silica affect the color?
> it all matters.
>
> a million people along the `min` river...all working in the pottery
> industry.
> men, women, childen...`hey get that gang of kids making saggers..we need
> 5,000 more this week.`  `hey guys, man the kick wheels, we just got an
> order
> for 50,000 pots...the guy from the castle just left.`
> it all matters.
> that is our history, that is where we came from...the world of ancestors
> that worked in clay...not hundreds of years ago, thousands of years of
> clay work.
> and sometimes we think we are so smart.
>
> does one learn anything in a semester in college?  not much any longer.
> you know.
> `skill is votech stuff...we make smart art`...sure.
> it all matters.
> skill, knowledge, chemistry, physics, artistic en-devour, weather,
> mechanical
> leverage, human strength. hydro, fire, thermo technology, fire, wood
> working,
> plumbing, gas, electric knowledge, fire.  it goes on and on...IT ALL
> MATTERS.
> mel
>
>
> website: www.melpots.com
>
> --
Sent from Gmail Mobile.
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