glazenerd

My wife bought me a ceramic plaque decades ago: " Blessed are the curious, for they shall find adventures."

My wife bought me a ceramic plaque decades ago: " Blessed are the curious, for they shall find adventures."

My wife bought me a ceramic plaque decades ago: " Blessed are the curious, for they shall find adventures."

Liam:
it might sound that way so perhaps I should add: I had no interest until my order arrived and I was hooked. Secondly, much has to do with my thirst to learn new things ( within limits.)  I read dictionaries for leisure, I find them much more interesting than novels. Except of course for the old stuff..Steinbeck,Dickens, and Harper Lee. 
So far the responses have been interesting insights.

I was in a high end antique store in Williamsburg, Va. In 2007 admiring a Dresden vase. On the next table was a vase with floret looking shapes that caught my attention. The clerk had no idea what kind of glaze it was. I spent almost an entire year searching for a similar glaze: then one day I typed in " crystal glaze", because that was the appearance of it to me. The first website was William Melstrom from Texas; lo and behold I had been looking at crystalline glaze. I had no prior experience with or interest for that matter in pottery, although I did help my wife glaze bisq ware some 20 years prior. 
After doing some research, I ordered the kilns, rollers, and sundry items required to make this speciality glaze. So I jumped into the rabbit hole from the outset, and here I am ten years later. I noticed early on that crystals formed differently on different clay bodies; although I made no changes in recipe. Those differences lead to extensive research over the last five years trying to understand why. And now I know why.....
Tom

I had taken art classes beginning at age 11 in 1960. During the 6 years of Saturday classes downtown , I was exposed to great museums including the Pennsylvania University Museum with a great archeology college and the Philadelphia  Museum of Art, The Rodin Museum, Natural History Museum, etc.   Once in Art school at the Philadelphia University of the Arts ( formerly Phila. College of Art, formerly before that The Phila. Museum College of Art) I majored in Industrial Design after the Freshman Foundation core. My elective in Ceramics changed that. I too, like Pres, found the touch of clay and was hooked. My teacher, Bill Daley, was great in  getting us involved in firing, clay mixing , hand building. We attended a workshop with Paul Soldner at a local Art Center, built a kiln in the snow and fired. Afterwards we built a raku kiln on the "campus" in downtown Phila. Paula Winokur was brought in to teach us how to throw. The rest is history. I feel blessed to have had such a great exposure to the Arts and specifically in Clay.

Glazenerd posed the following series of questions in the QotW pool. I am posting both of them as they seem to be very related: 
When, where, what, or who influenced you to begin your journey into pottery? 
If you care to share: what was it exactly about pottery that drew your interest?
In answer to this area of interest, I can really remember it like yesterday. . . Mansfield, PA, Mansfield State College, Art Ed department, Ceramics I, with Stanley Zuchowski. I had done a hand built slab box in an earlier crafts class, and had signed up for a Summer class thinking that I would fill one of my elective class credits and move on. Little did I know that the feel of the clay moving through my fingers, and the challenge of the wheel, control of the clay and movement to make a form would keep me interested for the rest of my life. I was enthralled by the teacher's understanding of the clay and the large forms he was able to make, but in the long run came to realize there was so much more to it than that. I had never really had any experience with the potters wheel until then, and no experience with clay other than the occasional grade school project that might have lasted an hour if that.
Best,
Pres

My love of clay started when I was 12,  I had a art teacher that thought I was artistic and was a big supporter.  One day she gave every one a ball of clay and told us to make anything we wanted.  Everyone else smashed out awful ashtrays,  my folks didn't believe in smoking.   I had been reading a book on Egypt and decided to make a Egyptian cat pendant for a necklace.  When I touched the clay I fell in love with it and the pendant was so beautiful  I knew clay was magic and I could make anything I wanted with it.  A few years later I was in high school where I could take a pottery class.  Great teacher,  I did a lot of hand building over the next three years.  Never got to throw on the wheel,  we only had one wheel and the teacher would pick a boy to teach  throwing to.   He didn't consider girls strong enough to throw.   I have tried many many different types of art but I always go back to clay.      Denice

I fell in love with clay when I was four years old, in kindergarten.  Thank you, Mrs. Owen .
We had a three day rotation in which one third of the class worked in clay, one third in paint, and one third built with blocks.
What appeals to my now in clay is not that different from what appealed to me then. It was how the clay felt in my hands, that it was plastic, that the form was three dimensional rather than two dimensional, and that the potential forms were limitless.
The act of shaping drew me much more than decorating. 

In 1975 I wanted to escape 2 years as a Political Science major. My buddy was an art major in pottery. I took Ceramics 101 and 102 but was not consumed by it. In 1979, after cutting half my Left thumb off, I took Ceramics 101 and 102 at the local community college while the thumb healed. Again not consumed by it.
Next time to stick my hands in clay is in 2008. I audited Ceramics 101 just to see if it held my interest. OK I get consumed, however kidney cancer surgery in 2013 knocks me out of pottery for awhile. Try to get back into it but R hip and L knee bone on bone is too much pain. Get both totally replaced in 2015. 
Since 2016 I have been consumed by clay, glazes and making. No pain and 70 pounds lighter, I am hitting it hard and loving it. 
The kidney cancer was a wake up call. I figured if I were ever going to do anything in pottery it better be now. Now at 64 years old some days I feel like a puppy, spry and full of life and ideas, then some days like an old dog - both mentally and physically. 
I read something that says professionals don't wait around for inspiration, they just get on with making. That pretty well sums it up. Just get on with the making...

I was in a high end antique store in Williamsburg, Va. In 2007 admiring a Dresden vase. On the next table was a vase with floret looking shapes that caught my attention. The clerk had no idea what kind of glaze it was. I spent almost an entire year searching for a similar glaze: then one day I typed in " crystal glaze", because that was the appearance of it to me. The first website was William Melstrom from Texas; lo and behold I had been looking at crystalline glaze. I had no prior experience with or interest for that matter in pottery, although I did help my wife glaze bisq ware some 20 years prior. 
After doing some research, I ordered the kilns, rollers, and sundry items required to make this speciality glaze. So I jumped into the rabbit hole from the outset, and here I am ten years later. I noticed early on that crystals formed differently on different clay bodies; although I made no changes in recipe. Those differences lead to extensive research over the last five years trying to understand why. And now I know why.....
Tom

So today started like many glaze days except this was the last one this year. The day ended looking like these last two photos.Which is all that bisque ware you see in above post which got glazed and loaded today.
The big car kiln was not quite full (last fire of year is a cleanup of whats left) and the little 12 cubic updraft was bait loose as well.
This year in firing making terns is ending earlier than it ever has for me. Due to my two month broken arm setback-I ended up with a whole shows extra inventory-Hence no need to make that much more for xmas.I;ll post a year end comparison as usual for my business later in month after things slow down. I closed my retail pottery sale booth for two days (mon_tues) to concentrate on the glazing and firing as well as the usually 18 days this season is just a bit to long for me-I like 15 days selling maximum . So is will reopen on Wednesday and sell everyday thru xmas eve.
My workbench will be empty of  greenware and bisque ware  its only for fired pots that need pricing or sorting or shipping now as the selling season is on and the makings season is over.
 

Prototype dinner plate for a disabled family member, she has partial use of one hand, paralyzed on the other side. Theory is she will be able to push her fork to the curved in back edge of the plate to keep the food on the fork. Front edge of plate is smooth and rounded over so she can rest her wrist either on that or the table.

Well worked my way through all of my bags of iron-rich stoneware.... Or so I thought.  100 lbs of reclaim looks just about ready to throw with, so I'll be wedging up some of that tonight to see if it's still got legs.  While burning through my bags I used this stuff called Goldbar Brown and it was pretty stiff, but it made throwing large pretty easy, might have to pick some more of it up if I like the fired appearance.  I made a pretty good sized lidded jar with it and I know with my standard clay I would have had the torch out a few times at least.

Lee:
it has been a joy watching you develop your own "voice" over the last two years. Glad to see you reimagining the platter. Actually find the expression intriguing. Well done!!
Nerd

Lee:
it has been a joy watching you develop your own "voice" over the last two years. Glad to see you reimagining the platter. Actually find the expression intriguing. Well done!!
Nerd

There was an  Israeli ceramist,  Israel Bankir (unfortunately died in 2014 ) who had expertise in traditional Chinese glazes like cooper reds and celadons.  He fired all his reduction pots inside an electric kiln. This was massive frontloading kiln he built by himself.  The kiln had relatively thick Kanthal elements that Israel used to replace from time to time by himself. 
He told me that he managed to get a reduction atmosphere by inserting controlled small amounts of propane gas into the hot kiln.  He had narrow clay or porcelain pipe/nozzle that he made,   at the end of a flexible pipe attached to small camping gas tank.  While describing this process it definitely sounds dangerous to me but Israel did not mention any safety procedures at the time...   
Anyway, Israel emphasized the fact that heating elements should better be thick and expected to have a shorter life than in normal oxidation usage. I believe he fired normal oxidation fire after few reduction fires to reoxidize the elements.
 
See a few examples on the memorial page on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/ישראל-בנקיר-אמן-קרמיקה-דף-הנצחה-1511126272461050/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1513208148919529
From Israel Bankir's retrospective exhibition:

 
In the studio of Israel Bankir in Haifa, Israel

Lee:
it has been a joy watching you develop your own "voice" over the last two years. Glad to see you reimagining the platter. Actually find the expression intriguing. Well done!!
Nerd

Not sure this question really rests within the parameters of formal or informal education, but rather in the persons desire to learn. Just as the reactions to formal or informal education is based more in access and means, rather than desire. I did not receive a formal education in pottery, mostly because when starting out my goal was a diversion from life. Although I quickly learned that some basic education was required to achieve any level of successful outcome.
It took very little time for my personality to inject itself into my hobby: my curiosity, my thirst for truth, for fact, and for knowledge quickly took hold. Knowing what a motor does is not good enough for me, I have to take it apart and know in detail what each part does. I spent several years reading and studying books written before the 1980's by the major PHD's of ceramic and other related fields. So while my education was not in a formal setting, it was gleaned from those who were formally educated. I found internet searches useful, as long as the resource material was from credible sources. From every credible source I found, I found ten that were not.
After 7 or so years, I finally decided to mingle with other potters for the first time: which landed me here. Some of the information I found here confirmed what I held to be true: while some of it challenged it. The two years I have been here has taught me many things, less about pottery and much about personalities. There is something to be said about knowledge, but experience is what puts that knowledge into motion. Gaining knowledge through a formal or informal setting will provide you tools, but only experience will teach you how to use them. I do not regret my informal education, or the journey that it required, but I am also aware that a formal education would have saved me from the numerous potholes  I managed to step in.
T

Crystalline glaze: cut my teeth on it. My obsession with clay came because of it.
 

Crystalline glaze: cut my teeth on it. My obsession with clay came because of it.
 

Crystalline glaze: cut my teeth on it. My obsession with clay came because of it.
 

Crystalline glaze: cut my teeth on it. My obsession with clay came because of it.
 

Crystalline glaze: cut my teeth on it. My obsession with clay came because of it.
 

Learning all about raku work these days. Decided that I'm just going to make things that I really enjoy making. Hopefully I can at least earn my keep at the local studio I am at!
Lots to learn about glazes, firing, fuming, not singing my hair or eyebrows, etc.  Plus I think I'd like to build more kilns - so much fun - my kind of experimenting.