CarlCravens

The problem I have with older books and magazines is the quality of photos... so many are in B&W and aren't that sharp. Modern printing has come a long way. There was a day I'd welcome scrounging for old books or magazines, but now days, I just want to buy something off Amazon and be done. Ideally, it'd be in ebook form, but that seems not all that common for these kind of books. The book Pres recommended sounds like a good place to start... easy to get from Amazon, not terribly expensive. (It's really amazing to me how little general interest there is in pottery, but how many *

So, can someone recommend a book or two on the history of modern ceramics? A survey of artists kind of thing that would be a starting place to learn about the artists mentioned here?

As a hobbyist, I don't have to worry about the time efficiency issues, and I like to trim just about everything... I enjoy the act of trimming almost as much as I do throwing. When I pick up pots at shows, I almost always turn them over to look at the foot, and I'm usually disappointed by the flat bottoms. A nicely trimmed foot-ring is rarity on functional ware at shows I see, and I'd just *love* to be surprised by decoration inside the foot someday.

Benzine, are you using the WYSIWYG editor? Try clicking the little light-switch in the upper-left corner of the editor... that switches to plain-text mode and you can manage the quotes much more easily, because it turns the quotes into text begin/end markers.

Wikipedia says: Feller kiln brought contemporary design to wood firing by re-using unburnt gas from the chimney to heat intake air before it enters the firebox. This leads to an even shorter firing cycle and less wood consumption. This design requires external ventilation to prevent the in-chimney radiator from melting, being typically in metal. The result is a very efficient wood kiln firing one cubic meter of ceramics with one cubic meter of wood. You might try searching for "Feller kiln".

Sadly, my significant Google Fu turns up mostly people asking for copies of the manual. :/ From what I've read on this search, Speedball dumped all but the Artistia and Boss lines, so you're not likely to get much help out of them for a really old CI wheel. Can't hurt to try, though. If you do get ahold of manuals, be sure to post them for the rest of the world.

But please don't sell bowels, whether you cast them in a mold or not. Ew.

This is what I was thinking, which makes me surprised to hear Mark say he can't make a living in stoneware because his customers are informed enough to have a preference for porcelain. As I said in the original post, I can tell the difference, most of us here can tell the difference, and some discerning customers can tell the difference... but in the art fair crowd, the average Joe doesn't know white stoneware from porcelain, and wouldn't prefer one over the other, everything else being equal. Mark C, I wonder what your customer base looks like. Lots of repeat clients who are well-inf

I've wondered if this has been part of it... porcelain is "hard to work with," i.e. not for beginners. I had gotten the impression that many consider working with porcelain was a badge of honor, a mark that one is "real" artistic potter. Most of the responses in this thread boil down to "I just like it best."

It's a simple question from a relatively inexperienced potter who has only thrown stoneware and earthenware... don't want to stir up a "which is better" debate or anything like that. Why porcelain? In general, and then specifically, why do some functional potters who cover all but the foot in semi-opaque glaze choose porcelain, considering that it's expensive and finicky (from all I hear). When I go to art fairs, none of the functional potters work in porcelain (I ask about clay and glazes, of course). But online and in the magazines, I see functional potters who work primarily in po