Pkqw: Week 13

[Pres]

Week 13

 

1. The base for a coil pot may be created by using:

   1. coils or a disc of clay

   2. pinching or a mold

   3. paddle and anvil, or pulling the clay up

   4. all of the above

2. Given a piece of malleable, soft clay, there are at least two instinctive positive reactions.

   1. One is to pat, squeeze and pull at the lump -arriving at a modeled form of a snake, a bird or other image; or to roll into a ball and insert the thumb pinch to a crude pot

   2. Look at the dirty ball disdainfully, and reject its existence

   3. break it down into small pieces and throw them on the wall!

   4. Contemplate the existence of the form and its present material philosophically, or to be inconsequential.

3. The process of coiling and scraping often integrate the form and the surface with the creation of _______________________as they are part of the forming process.

   1. deliberate marks

   2. stamped mark

   3. incised marks

   4. incidental marks

4. In dealing with archaeological and ethnic pots and other decoration we have to remember two important technical points:

   1. they tend to be archaic and quite primitive

   2. they are almost always unglazed and fired to a very low temperature very unlikely to exceed 1000C/1832F..

   3. they are all burnished for hardness, and are devoid of decoration

   4. they were primarily cooking ware, as such were poorly formed and decorated

 

 

This weeks questions come from text in Coiled Pottery, Traditional and Contemporary Ways, Betty Blandino, c. 1984, my version 2003 color reprint, Krause Publications.

Note from Pres: For those of you that are hand-builders, this book has an excellent overview of the craft, and a strong selection of contemporary pots and pots in progress by numerous coil potters.

 

 

Answers:

1. 4. All of the above-from pg 27-28 paraphrasing. . . The base may be coiled, a disc of clay, pinched, a disc formed in a mold, paddled and anvil, started with a lump and punching a hollow and then pulling up the sides. The author shares examples from contemporary potters working with each method.

2. 1. One is to pat, squeeze and pull at the lump -arriving at a modeled form of a snake, a bird or other image; or to roll into a ball and insert the thumb pinch to a crude pot-Given a piece of malleable, soft clay, there are at

   least two instinctive reactions. One is to pat, squeeze and pull at the lump arriving at a modelled form like a bird, a man, a head. The other is to beat or roll it into a ball, stick a thumb through the middle and make a crude

   pot.

3. 4. incidental marks-Incidental Marks The direct relationship between texture and form is more evident in coiling than in other methods of making pots. We have already in Chapter 3 that there are potters whose process is such that surface interest and form are one. This is at its most unobtrusive in the work of Monica Young, whose unglazed pols have a pleasant, granulated surface and the color of dark toast. The texturing occurs in scraping, carried out with a flexible length of ‘Surform’ blade. When the pot is dry it is sandpapered expressly to roughen the surface further, chalk is rubbed into the pot to darkens the color, and it may then be sanded again. The reduced ï¬ring, to the high temperature cf 1300°C, also adds to the unaccented color interest. Because of the scale and the simplicity of these very large pots, each feature — the top of a smooth rim, a scored line around it, a petal-like overlap, a beveled base -creates a strong pattern of light and shade.

4. 2. they are almost always unglazed and fired to a very low temperature very unlikely to exceed 1000C/1832F. - In dealing with archaeological and ethnic pots and their decoration we have to remember two important technical points: first, almost all the ware is unglazed; secondly, it is ï¬red to a low temperature that is very unlikely to exceed l0OO°C.

[Pres]

This is probably a little known book, but a good one for coil builders. At the same time, as I knew this to be more difficult, I tried to ease up on the distractors.

 

best,

Pres

[glazenerd]

1-4. 3-3. 4-4.

 

I did not answer #2; the views on soft clay will be changing shortly.

[Magnolia Mud Research]

4, 1, 4, 2

[Min]

1-4. 3-3. 4-4.

 

I did not answer #2; the views on soft clay will be changing shortly.

 

 

Oh, I can see it coming, think Pres is going easy on us the past couple weeks but I  get the feeling that in a year or so we will have questions from your book, something like what is acid activated clay, smectite-to-illite transition, cation-exchange or …?   

[Pres]

Don't forget nanite based clay, changes to the tune of 3D software.

[Roberta12]

1.  4

2. 1

3. 4

4. 2

[Marko]

4

  1

4

2

[glazenerd]

Pres:

 

Actually it is nanoparticle clay; being used in industry for a decade. Kaolin is etched with solvents and mixed with nanoparticle spars: 100% vitrification at 800C without using frits. Circuit boards are covered with zinc-silicate to produce a net zero electrical charge.

Zinc-silicate = crystalline glaze. Actually, I was thinking of formulating a clay body that actually picked up local radio stations so you can have some tunes while you are throwing.

-I have learned more about clay formulation from technology, than I have from reading pottery books on the topic.

Nerd

 

Min: what clay has the highest CEC/meq rating of all plastic colloidal materials?

[Marcia Selsor]

This is tough as I disagree with the premise in parts of the set up for the questions.

here goes,

1-4

2 -1

3-1

4-2

[Min]

 

 

Min: what clay has the highest CEC/meq rating of all plastic colloidal materials?

 

easy peasy, it's the one you're using 

[Pres]

Glazenerd,

My reference to nanites was to nanomachines. Imagining a clay that had particles made up of machines that could organize themselves into the form designed on a computer, then get fired to permanence. Stuff of science fiction, but then 3D printers were such 10 years ago. If you can dream it. . . . someday it will happen! 

 

 

best,

Pres

[S. Dean]

1. 4  *

2. 1

3. 4

4. 2

 

 

* in answer 3 to question 1 - paddle yes, but I'm not so sure about the anvil.  Anvil seems like it is used more on the walls of the pot, not the base.

[LeeU]

I think the answers are:

 

1-4

2-1

3-4

4-? my guess is 3, but...the text is confusing, with so much "all","almost always", "primarily"  and the unstated time-context for "archeological" and "ethnic".  

 

Changing my tune--going with 4 is 2. Dunno what I was thinking-got too hung up on the details.

[Chilly]

4, 1, 4, 2

[alabama]

1. 1

 

2. 1

 

3. 4

 

4. 2

 

 

Alabama