POTTERY,

FOR ARTISTS
CRAFTSMEN
& TEACHERS

EXPLANATION

In such a spacious craft as Pottery it is difficult to steer a fair course between the empirical and the scientific. With that in mind this book sets out to tell in simple terms some of the processes of Potting, practicable to the student and to the more finished craftsman.

It is an intricate task to combine successfully the view-points of the artist and the scientist; but it seems that, without neglecting the many benefits bestowed by the advance of science, the Potter should stand with the former. The best in his craft has been produced by men that were artists rather than chemists. And what has been accomplished by loving, patient craftsmanship may surely be done again only in such ways.

To the artist craftsman, for whom chiefly this book is intended, a little scientific knowledge is a dangerous thing; for that reason no great stress is laid on formulas and analysis. Unless thoroughly understood they are a hindrance rather than an aid.

Although many schools teach elementary pottery, the expense of equipment possibly delays its introduction on a larger scale. For that reason I have preferred to err on the side of over-exactness of description and profuseness of illustration.

The slight historical review and introductory remarks are to be excused on the ground that they are intended to help to a study of the best work of the best periods, and so to foster a taste for the finest Ceramics. This is a vital matter when laying the foundations of a craft so fascinating and so full of alluring avenues to beckon the student from the true path.

To the scientific critic I would offer a hundred books with a thousand different compounds; amongst none of them will he find how to make a Sung bowl or a Rakka drug pot.

This book will achieve its purpose if it sets one or two sincere students to the making of some of the many beautiful objects of utility and art with which the craft abounds. Then it will have done something, if never so little, to accelerate the arrival of that time when the artist will come once more into his own in the most ancient and noble of Crafts.

Some of the many books consulted, to which I am indebted, are given at the end of the book. Among friends my thanks are especially due to Richard Lunn, Esq., of the Royal College of Art, London, and to Professor Arthur Wesley Dow of Teachers College, Columbia University, for my introduction to and opportunity of further study of the Craft to which I subscribe myself an humble devotee.

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