[Clayart] bisque and other stories

[mel jacobson]

the name of my new book about mentors i have had
is/  "learning from the ground up."

all of my mentors did that.
one of my all time favorite mentors is;
"
Charles Franklin Kettering sometimes known as Charles "Boss" Kettering was an American inventor, engineer, businessman, and the holder of 186 patents. He was a founder of Delco, and was head of research at General Motors from 1920 to 1947. Wikipedia

he did not go to college.  he was a self learner.  i had a tape of a lecture he gave years back to the national assoc of mech engineers.
he invented the modern diesel engine, the spray gun for cars, modern brakes, the modern battery....and on and on and on.

here is a story from his tape.
"we wanted to paint cars a color, anything but black. it took forever for enamel to dry on cars so i came up with an oven to dry them fast...but
it was still, one at a time.  my wife and i were in San Francisco and i watched a japanese man making lacquer boxes he used a spray gun held in his mouth..i asked him "what is the problem with doing lacquer?  he said.."dry too fast'.  Wow.  bingo, i went home and mixed lacquer with enamel and that we could spray and it dried in an
 hour.then we used the oven to harden the paint.. "one day i called up through a window to the boss of GM and yelled.."what is your favorite color????"  "red' he yelled.  We pulled his cadillac into the shop, sprayed it bright red and re-parked it.  colored cars from that day on."

Boss was a ground up guy. he said "the diesel felt good running, it was a happy engine, gas is too wild". he transferred feeling into engineering.
he also said the "slide rule is stupid, everyone knows what 2+2 is...the slide rule answers 3.998562,
IT IS LIKE BISQUE. what are you trying to do????? then do it.  you don't need a slide rule. use your brain.  this not for ken, it is for all that
like to use your own brain and figure things out. it is your DNA if you are serious worker in clay. so, think of that woman making pots in africa in the year 800 B.C.  no slide rule, no chart, just her...and she did it. re-look at the picture of mrs. mugamba on my website, clayart page.  remind yourself of how she does it.
love on thanksgiving day.  mel

website: www.melpots.com
www.melpots.com/CLAYART.HTML