Pottery, for Artists Craftsmen & Teachers Part 10

The small trial kiln shown (Fig. 70) was constructed with a stout old _crock_, over which was built a core of bricks plastered with marl. The fire was started at each corner at the bottom, and when well alight, fed from the top with c.o.ke. A small spy at one corner closed with a piece of biscuit gave some idea of the progress of the firing. This, of course, had to be practically rebuilt at each firing, but as a makeshift was quite satisfactory.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 70--CROCK WITH IMPROVISED SPY HOLE. CONE INSIDE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 70A--CROCK BRICKED OVER & PLASTERED WITH MARL.]

The gas and oil kilns described in Chapter IX are excellent as far as they go, and indeed the only practicable kind for indoor schools. But their restricted size soon becomes irksome to a craftsman, whilst the expense of firing makes only the finest work remunerative. For over-glaze work they are excellent, but for some reason glazes fired in them seem to lack some of the richness and maturity the same glazes exhibit when fired in the slower and more soaking fire of a brick kiln. The dug-out kiln here depicted (Fig. 71) would be quite suitable for summer schools or for a craftsman making soft peasant pottery. The section and sketch will indicate its construction. The materials are hard bricks and stout old boiler plates, or sheet iron. To pack or unpack, the middle section of the roof would have to be removed each time, and all glazed pots would need protection from scalings and gravel from above. The roof will sag at any big heat, and if of thin iron, will need propping. The firing would be done with soft coal or wood; a very slow start, with a brisk draught and a long flame at the finish.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 71--"DUG-OUT" KILN OF COMMON RED BRICK.]

Of course the front will be hotter than the back, but if saggars can be obtained, the glaze may be placed in them to the front with the biscuit protected behind. Clay shapes fired up at the front may bend towards the fire, and any broken crocks should be used to screen them.

The making of rough saggars is not difficult if a supply of fire clay is to hand, or clay and grog will serve at a pinch. The clay is rolled out and the saggar stuck up, much as described on page 32. Every joint must be carefully welded and the whole thoroughly dried. Then they are fired up in the kiln, _very_ gently at first, and carried up to a temperature considerably above that which they will be subjected to when in use.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 71A--SECTION OF "DUG-OUT" KILN.]

For small trial crucibles ordinary clay mixed with pitchers and powdered c.o.ke proves satisfactory; the c.o.ke when fired out renders the body porous and the heat penetrates more swiftly.

To construct the m.u.f.fle kiln shown at Fig. 72 the aid of a competent bricklayer would probably be required. In this kiln glaze and biscuit would fire up without saggars, but will take rather longer. The plan and elevation of this particular kiln are given with all reserve. The design would probably require considerable adjustment and modification before complete satisfaction was obtained.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 72--SECTIONS OF m.u.f.fLE KILN TO SHEW SUPPORTS. FLUES.

ETC.]

A down-draught kiln, although more difficult to construct than an up-draught, is more economical in the end and does its work more evenly.

For the benefit of those that may like to build a small and moderately cheap kiln drawings are here given. This kiln was built by me when I had very little practical experience of kilns other than gas, but it served its purpose well. It was not banded, but this is essential if the kiln is to stand hard and frequent fire. Firebricks were used for the fireholes, flues, floor, core, and dome; strong stock bricks for the rest. The glazed ware, which was fired harder than the biscuit, was saggared in bungs as usual up to about five feet; the biscuit piled on top and protected by old saggars and cracked pots from the roughest fire. There were no bags in this kiln, but the saggars used were very strong and had stood a much greater heat than that to which they were subjected in this kiln, so that they showed very little wear or tear after twenty firings. The stack of sixteen feet gave a good sharp draught, increased if necessary by the addition of an iron chimney and regulated by an iron damper. A wind screen or _hovel_ is advisable for rough nights, and some sort of roof is necessary to protect the crown from the weather. It is important to have the arch of the hatch very strongly built, as it has to stand a lot of strain, and an iron support too near the fire soon corrodes and needs replacing. Another essential is that the site be as dry as possible and the foundation made solid with concrete; otherwise even a small kiln is liable to settle and crack. With a little extra expense a kiln of this kind could be banded round the impost and fireholes, thus considerably prolonging its life.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 72A--PLAN SHEWING ARRANGEMENT OF FIRE TILES FORMING m.u.f.fLE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 72B--m.u.f.fLE KILN BUILT OF FIRE TILES, FIRE BRICKS, AND COMMON REDS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 73--POKER. SLICE. TONGS.]

In firing this kiln about half a ton of c.o.ke and three quarters of a ton of good hard coal, giving a long flame, was used. c.o.ke for the slow fire was first started on the bottom and maintained for sixteen or eighteen hours, lifted up on to the bars for another six or eight hours, when the saggars would begin to show signs of colour. The coal fire was then started about the 24th or 25th hour and continued another 18 hours, more or less, according to the varying conditions, making in all some 40 or 45 hours. This gave a very evenly graduated heat from cone 1 at the base to cone .03 at the top. Bags were tried experimentally, but whilst giving a more uniform heat, took much longer to fire up. At the finish of the firing the fireholes were bricked up, the damper closed when the fires died down. In about 24 hours the vent and the hatch were eased a little at the top, and in 48 hours it was pulled down and the drawing commenced.

Packed with the hard glazes at the bottom and the soft at the top this kiln answered excellently for the purposes for which it was required.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 74--SAGGAR WITH A POT INSIDE.]

CHAPTER XVI

THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF POTTERY

"The princ.i.p.al point in Education is that one's knowledge of the World begins at the right End."

--SCHOPENHAUER.

The study of the fictile art of the potter, even from the theoretical side alone, cannot fail to quicken and broaden education. The antiquity of the craft, stimulating research amongst the records of ancient civilizations, brings to light customs and habits bearing very closely upon the earliest struggles of man to emanc.i.p.ate himself from mere brute surroundings. The primitive decorations rudely scratched on clay vessels antedate and forecast the hieroglyphic and sign languages of all nations.

It would be but hyperbole to claim that without clay the Mosaic tablets would have remained unwritten, but indubitably the clay cylinders of a.s.syria gave a strong impulse to the development of ciphering and writing and the spread of learning,--an impetus not to be derived from the obstinate granite medium so generally employed by the Egyptians.

It is this amenable ductile quality, so easily receptive of the most emotional touch, that has made and still makes clay such an admirable medium of expression for the young,--whether young in the history of the world or young in actual years. And this malleability is accompanied by a tenacity that permits slow building up, remodelling, and high finish, suitable to work of the most painstaking character. To this is added the fixed, unalterable quality imparted by fire, so that pottery more than any other craft preserves an imperishable record of the ages.

This positive chronicle is valuable alike to the savant or the student.

Indeed the most trivial child's toys of the h.e.l.lenes, the quaint water pots of the Peruvian peasant, or the una.s.suming tea bowl of the esoteric followers of Riku may chance to convey to the sincere student a clearer idea of the habits and thoughts of their producers than many a pedantic treatise or translation.

"So lively shines In them Divine resemblance and such grace The hand that made them on their shape hath poured."

--MILTON.

Coming down to points in close contact with the curricula of schools, we all subscribe to the dictum of Ruskin that "Everyone, from the King's son downwards, should learn to do something finely and thoroughly with his hands." What then more suitable than sympathetic clay wherein to fashion the first fancies of the child mind. It is a medium at once attractive and easy to mould, giving a tangibility and reality to forms and things that can never be obtained by drawing or painting. Then the limitless uses to which clay is put, and, with the development of hygiene, increasingly will be put, have the closest bearing upon the everyday life of the child. They are intimately connected with other studies that cannot fail to be rendered more attractive by working in clay.

But clay work is a branch now so universal that it seems unnecessary to dwell upon its advantages to the kindergartener.

The valuable remedial effects of clay work upon the defective are perhaps less widely known. The manipulation induces a most beneficial concentration and provides a fine discipline without a trace of inimical restraint. Turning to higher grades, the use of clays should foster an interest in the formation, composition, and disintegration of rocks, and in the properties of the products so engendered; in short, a liking for geology.

With the making of simple glazes and colours will awaken an intelligent curiosity concerning the nature of minerals and metals, their actions and reactions in the fire; a lively sympathy only awaiting a touch to turn it into a love for chemistry and physics. Then as power and ambition and craftsmanship develop, there must needs be a study of the history of ornament. This impinges too closely upon history and geography to fail to increase the student's attraction towards these more remote but allied fields.

Finally, is it not in the realm of aesthetics that there looms the ultimate reward? The proper pursuit of pottery must eventually lead us "towards that idealization of daily life ... and the road that connects the love of the beautiful with the love of the good is short and smooth" (President Eliot). In the hurried curricula of to-day art plays a rather sorry part.

Little time indeed is left for contemplation, for the realization of all that beauty and harmony in our surroundings may mean to us in our everyday work.

The making of a bowl, with the concentration required to shape it in a manner at once beautiful and serviceable, must quicken the perception of beauty and sharpen the quality of judgement, not only for things fictile, but in far wider fields. Thus the things of everyday contact--the tableware, the chairs, the doors, the windows, pictures, ornaments, hangings, and fittings--will all come in for intelligent scrutiny and criticism. This in turn will be carried on and over into matters civic.

This must result in a careful estimation, selection, and appreciation of our surroundings, bringing them into harmony with our cultivated thoughts and so enabling us to get through the day's work with the least amount of useless friction and with the greatest possible measure of enjoyment, well-being, and well-doing.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLAN OF A SMALL POTTERY.]

APPENDIX I

THE EQUIPMENT

The divinity that presides over potting is an expensive as well as an exacting mistress. The equipment of even a small pottery is, unfortunately, a matter of considerable expense. Try it from whatever angle we may there is the cost of the kiln to be faced, besides a host of other small but c.u.mulative expenses. The first essential is, of course, a roomy workshop with if possible a top as well as a side light. If the craftsman means business, he should remember that the initial cost of a kiln is often in inverse ratio to its upkeep. If he would aspire to big things, full-bellied pots, plaques, reliefs, and figures,--and every craftsman would,--a brick kiln will be wanted. One holding a dozen saggars could be built, but where some experience has been obtained with materials and processes, a larger one would be more economical. With oil or gas kilns of the ordinary school size the cost of firing and the extra time is proportionately too great to permit of any but comparatively high-priced pots being turned out. This may serve in some cases, but usually it is not practical potting where a livelihood has to be obtained. Where only the painting is to be fired on, an oil or gas kiln is exactly what is wanted.

In this appendix is given a plan of a workshop that has all the equipment necessary for the whole-hearted pursuit of the craft. In such an one a good craftsman, capable of modelling and painting decently a figure or a panel, a good thrower, and a handy boy could work wonders. They would be capable of turning out a surprisingly wide range of "pots": jugs, mugs, pots, bottles, bowls, b.u.t.tons, dishes, plaques, panels, vases, tiles, and statuettes,--useful and beautiful things. Anything in fact worth doing can be done except fine tableware or those articles that by their nature demand more mechanical accuracy than is possible, or even desirable, for a craftsman to exhibit. Where much plaster turning for moulds was attempted, a lathe would be required; ordinarily the hiring of one should be practicable and expedient. Where only built or cast shapes were attempted, the wheel and its long years of drill might be dispensed with, and it is possible, with strong individual work of high finish and fine quality and the consequently restricted output, that an oil or gas kiln would give economically practicable results. Between the kiln for firing decoration simply painted on the ready-made shape to the full equipment here described will be found several modifications, but to try the craft without a kiln of some sort is an imbecile proceeding.

Small brick kiln supplied with saggars.

Small m.u.f.fle kiln--oil or gas--for over-glaze and l.u.s.tres.

Small enameller's kiln for firing quick trials.

Kick wheel, and tools for throwing.

Clay bin, zinc-lined.

Damp-box.

Drying cupboard.

Plaster bin.

Pot boards and brackets.