Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-24
THE WOMAN POTTER
CLAY WORKING AN OCCUPATION
WITH MANY ADVANTAGES.
Possibilities of the Craft-Good Labor
for Nervous Per-
sons.
From the New York Tribune

From the New York Tribune.
This is such comfortable restful work
just the thing for nervous people" said
Mrs. Cornelius Poillon yesterday in her
New Jersey pottery. ''Of course" she
added, lone can have nervous prostration
when the kiln is opened and the work of
days Is revealed in ruin, but there is no
hurrying the clay, nor. in fact, any part of
the process. 1t is steady. painstaking eff
fort that achieves success"
Mrs. Poillon is potter. That is by long
and diigent experiment and undauuted
courage, she has learned the potter's Sc
cret of clay mixing, and all the pottery.
both for decorative and kitchen utensils
made In her establishment is the product
of formulas worked out by herself To get
the formulas was the difficult part of her
undertaking, for every potter guards the
secrets OF his mixtures with jealous care.
1t was only because the potters had little
Tear of a woman learning their art that
Mrs. Poillon was admitted by certain ones
to their establishments for experimenting
purposes.
'-Potters,'' said Mrs. Pofllon. "'are the most
charming men in existence, and the most
cheerful liars With the most suave man.
ner and fetching Establishments they will
make you think that they are giving you
perfect formula, when, as a fact they are
throwing you off the track all the time"
with china painting. But the possibilities
of that process We're limited and a great
admiration for the colorS and depth of I'M
dergtaze was her incentive to enter the
held OF experiment. With three lessons In
which she learned what the underglaze
colors look like and how to apply them
she started to work out results.
Her Untiring Efforts.
A small kiln was built in a New Jersey
town, and there Mrs. Poiilon worked for an
entire summer before a single good result
In color was attained. To be sure, there
was one exception in the underglaze blue,
but as cobalt blue cannot be destroyed by
heat that was not classed as an important
achievement The goal of all her efforts
at that time was to produce finished land
scape In the various tones of green, brown,
gray. etc. To produce a perfect piece of
underglaZe work. the ware on which the
decoration is painted. the colors used and
the glaze covering the whole surface must
all be in chemical harmony. and to attain
satisfactory results the worker must be
familiar, through long experiment. with all
these ia ctorS and their action under intense
heat The second summer found Mrs. Poll
Ion still in pursuit of these ends. and al
last. after patient trial, she won. Each
shade of every color was tested on all the
different wares. with all the various glaZes
until a definite knowledge of results was
gained. The cost of firing each kiln as an
experiment was $50. So. although the work
was fascinating, the expense was q serious
rawback
"A perfect understanding of his mixtures
is as necessary to the potter as to the
baker," said Mrs. Poillon. "China CLAW,
stone ball clay and flint are equivalent in
the potter's work to butter eggs sugar
and flour in the bakers processes, different
combinations and proportions producing diff
ferent wares"