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Noodling on the Net

Sometinve ago | subscribed co Clayart -- a
sort of cyperspace chatline for porters
{mainly}, After recovering from the
surprise that so many petters are ‘on the
net’ om still trying come to terms with che
amount of time they spend
communicating! Although [ am not a
potter, my workd does revelve around what
potters have produced and are producing.

| have always chouwghr thac porters have
been treated poorly in che historical
ceramic-related literature. Little is
recorded about cheir lives so noodling on
the net was an opportunity noc to be
missed. | suppose | am whar is called a
"lurker" «- that ts, | listen bue [ seldom
contribute. However, there is much to
absorb and much co learn from chese
hundreds of potters who freely share their
personal successes, failures, and challenges.

My image (somewhat stereotypic) of the
rechno-resistant lifestyle of the porter was
the first assumption co be revisited. | could
sense the enthusiasm of one potter who
spoke effusively abour all “those wonderful
web pages popping up on [his] computer.”
Apparently he prints them our and uses
them to decorate his studio. They provide,
he says, “a litthe mocvation” on those
dreary momings. 5So, at the end (or
beginning} of each day, many porters --
known as “clayarters” on the list -- sit down
and consciously spend time talking to other
potters from all over che world. What do
they ralk about?) Well, chat is hard to
categorise, 90 | downloaded two separate
days of noodling on the net and sorted the
subjects more or less into che following
groups: debates abour big intellectual
isuies, Questions and answers of a technical
nature, clay-telaced research and
programmes, and work-related health
problerns.

One of che big issues that often appears has
to do with questions such as “is hand-built
pottery worth more money than slip-cast or
ram-pressed"? This extends into defining
{and pacrolling} the borders benween
amateur and professional potter..how this
is defined depends, of course, on who is
doing the defining. The art/craft debate
pops up fairly consistently and it is one |
think about and frequencly consider when
teaching. It only appeared once in my
two-day noodling but [ have noticed that t

he pendulum swing of opinions is fairly
predictable, often with Peter Voulkos
identified as the fulcrum.

Regardless, every now and then an
interesting solution is offered: my
favourite is the one that propeses thar all
objects agned on the front can be
considered art and all those signed on the
back or bottom are to be considered craft,
There was a shore conversation abour che
relationship berween the selling price of a
single dish versus a “see” of the same
dishes. This tnggered memories of
previous, often heated, discussions about
curmmiisspons! percentages/time as money,
and soon. The various interprecacions
of how you define value is, [ believe, an
ongoing and emotionally charged issue.
Los of clayarters want oo calk abour
technical problems. For example, need
advice on whether pou should put wood
ina gas kiln? The question was whether
anybody had put wood bits into a bisque
fire in a gas kiln to reduce TSigged pots
with the wood/smeke -- and at what
temperature Would ane insert the wood
Pieces inco the kiln so that the wood
would smoke or burn slightly? One
respondent reported that she built a
saggar with old soft brick and applied
garbage (citrus peels, banana peels,
mango etc) dipped into bone ash, to the
TS. She then placed charceal in or near
the pots, and scuffed (her word!) layers of
sawdust, leaves, pine branches and
sawdust if available, in and around the
gor. She recommends slow firing so that
steam/water in the omganic material can
be released gently,

Ocher clayarters look for the perfect way
to load a kiln -- is there one? Some
asked whether the warping of a vessel
had something to do with where it is
placed in the kiln, or has it something to
do with the throwing and drying steps!
Of course, the merics of various makes of
kiln are much diseussed -- there are chose
with poorelements, those with ill-ficting
lids, chose chat need a master electrician
to install, and those that don't do what
they said they would do...and so on.
Tony Hermsen (Enderby, British
Columbia) thanked others on the list who
helped him solve che problem of white
spotting in Majolica (if you want to know
you can find him at
thermaen(@jetstream.net). Recipes for
Blazes abound on the list. Of course you
have co knew whac OM#4, or EPK, or

4arcopax or Pemeo Fric £5 means

before youcan try any. Not being a
potter, this strange alchenry és beyond my
comprehension. Then there are those
whe have che problem of glaze flowing
into, and blocking, heles intended for
hanging platters. Nothing semed to
work. Then along came Suc-..all you
need co do is fill chose heles with che
semi-hardened wax reaist from the
underside of che lid of your handy jar of
resist. The only down side to this was chat
the platters sometimes cracked in the
weakened spot where the hole was
situated. Back to the drawing board?
No way! All you have oo do, says John
Lockeet (Barmingham WK}, "is gee a glass
drill bit, make a low wall of clay around
the hole, fill resulting reservoir with a
lubricating oi] and drill away” Problem
aolved? Whilst on this crack of great
solutions..did you know chac the problem
of pinholing and bubbles in copper red
and rucile glazes has been cured by
eliminating Thomas ball clay from the
clay body and replacing it with Foundry
Hill Cream? And, did you know that
chose litcle bits of plascic that you find in
your glaze probably arrived via the glaze
mixer blade on your power drill nicking
the sides of your mixing bucker?

One tried and true methed of solving
technical problems is to attend
workshops. Such things are often posted.
By the cime you read this you may have
missed Robin Hopper's workshop at Ucah
State University on October 24th, and
the Porters Festival at Seagrove may now
be long gone. However you haven't
missed the workshop offered by Jeff
Oestreich in January 1997. [c will be held
act Mc, Hood Community College,
Gresham, Oregon. Jeff, a etudia porter for
25 years, served an apprenticeship with
Bernard Leach at the Leach Pottery in
England. His work has been widely
exhibited and is internationally collected.
For a closer look at his work check out
Ceramics Monthly, May 1988, Talking of
Leach - John Leach will be here in
Vancouver next May -- don't miss him!
And, there is NCECA in Las Vegas in
L997 - lots of talk abour char. [ have
never been but ic seems from the postings
to be the bigeventof che year. I
understand that it includes scholarly

r

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