Thursday, May 06, 2010

The Complicated Life


The simple life is all well and good,but every now and then one feels the need to mix it up a bit. These tea-pots [a style I've made every couple of years for quite a while] have every addition you could want - handles,spouts [double-bent],strainers,oval lids with steam-holes and lugs to stop them falling out at full pour [you can't see them],thumb- and finger-stops and feet,apart from being put together from 2 separate wall-pieces and a base.
Visitors to the studio often ask how long it takes to make a pot: potters know that this is a difficult question to answer,because we work on pots at different stages and times. Most of us have a bunch of smart-ass answers at the ready a la Picasso ["5 minutes to draw it,20 years to learn how"];these 6 tea-pots take me 2 days to make and assemble. In an attempt to find a more realistic response,I once worked out a calculation of firings per year,pots per firing and hours work per week and came up with the answer: on average,it takes me one hour to make a pot,from wedging the clay to fired work. Happy now?

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home