The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-18
STRIKING RESULTS OBTAINED BY
HER PERsEvERING EFFORT.
Manner in Which n Paying Industry
Was Created i'm New Jersey
Fascinating Work.

| ing. The artist-potter began by amateur
dabblings in china paintings, and from that
went on to more ambitious and more broad
| ly executed experiments in underglaze.
The successes, but more particularly the
| failures of her tiles and vases stimulated
her interest in porcelains, and from paint
| ing she began to try working in clays,
which she baked in a common china kiln.
| Fortunately there was no lack of money
to interfere with her experiments. and her
! enthusiasm grew with every batch OF
queer, crooked and often shattered vessels
| that came out of the firing. She became
known to her friends as a woman with a
| fad. The fad finally led her to invest in
potter's wheel and various machinery, in
Guiding large kiln, which she installed
in rented house on the East Side. Here
she worked until her tenement-house
neighbors complained of the dense black
smoke which poured out of her chimney
| into their windows, and she was obliged
to move into less crowded quarters.
Even after having gone so far. it did not
occur to the experimenter to establish a
commercial enterprise. She would have
preferred to keep her potteries studio
art. But there are difficulties in the way
4
| not possible to buy colors in small guam
titles. When new formulas were presented
| to manufacturers they offered TO make
| them up by the ton, but declined TO bother
with five-pound lots.
| 1t is not easy to command the services
| of a good potter, unless the position is
| learned every detail of her work, from
| breaking the rough clay in the mixing tub
| to throwing 1t on the wheel, she preferred
| to occupy her time with her experiments.
| leaving the manual labor other hands
Realizing that she could not go to the
limit of her capacity without every facility
which machinery and skilled labor could
give, she took small building in New Jer-
| sey, a most unattractlve pile of sheds, and
put In full plant. Here she continued her
AFTER SEVEN YEARS.
Seven years after her first crude attempts
were made, after trying many combina-
| tons Of clay and chemicals, she succeeded
| in producing a pottery which is attracting
| the attention Of art lovers. 1t is a true
majolica. the colors good green's. blues.
| yellows, creams and browns, in simple but
very individual shapes.
The art of making pottery Is one of the
! oldest in the world. and the fascination of
| it lies in the fact that the combinations of
| clays and of colors are practically without
| limit. 1t is a teasing, evasive art, full of
| disappointments and full of delightful sur
prises. Pottery depends on the chemical
! changes which take place when the clay is
| heated. 1t is not possible to foretell what
4 those changes will be, and even after a
| successful biscuit is produced, the problems
! of glazing have yet to be faced. There must
| be certain similarity of substance be-
tween the clay body and the vitreous coat
| ing In order TO prevent the cracking or run
| ming of the latter.
The theory of pottery making is simple
| enough. The clays are mixed In tubs with
| spades or other rude instruments, and are
| then finely ground with water between mill
| stones to the consistency of cream. After
| the water has evaporated sufficiently to al
low of handling, the clay is kneaded and is
taken in hand by the potter.
There are few older instruments than the
| potter's wheel, and certainly none more
| beautiful in its operation. Now, as In the
/ days of the Ptolemies, il consists of small.
! round table, fixed on movable pivot A
treadle worked by the foot causes the disk
| TO revolve rapidly. On this the lump Of
of the potter, rises and falls in a succession
| OF symmetrical forms, seeming 10 follow
| the mood of the workman. ana to express
his emotions in a remarka BILE manner.
| The symmetry OF a vessel nodded on the
| wheel Is, of course, much truer than where
| the hands alone are used in shaping ii. The
! difficulty with most modern pottery is that
| Ii is not finished on the wheel, but Is put on
a turning lathe. which makes ii more con-
ventionally perfect, but oeprives it of life
and spirit. Only the commOnest and cheap
4
The new pottery seeks individuality above
| all things. Very few Of the pieces are ex-
actly alike. and many of them will never be
| duplicated.
CLAY COMES FROM ENGLAND.
| The clay from which it is made comes
from Devon and Cornwall. Clays from
these regions are imported in large guam
| titles, and found in warehouses in the
neighborhood of the East water front.
1
| of the pieces is merely decorative. The
best of them garden ware: window
| ledge flower boxes. jardinieres, tree tubs.
flower pots. hanging fern bowls and quaint
wall pockets for flowers, TO hang fat
| against veranda walls. A very original
form of window ledge flower pots used
| by the originators OF the Block Beautiful
! in Brooklyn year ago. These are in two
! shapes, one large at the top ana small at
| TIE bottom, and the otner large at the bot
| tom ana small a the top. Placed alternate
| y, they give the effect OF window box.
| since there is law against flower pots on
] window lodges, the designer has devised a
| woven basket frame which holds the pots
ARMY III place, and adds to their elective
ness as deco. atlon.
BasKetry has been studied in relation to
the potteries, and come good combinations
have been mace. Many Of the smaller
| bowls, and those intended Tor cut flowers,
| have holders oil artlsticaIiy woven grasses.
Copper and brass have also been COM
| bined with the porcelain in lamps and cleo
| troliers, ana IN shapes for lamps and can
| dies.
a breakfast service is Of design which
| could have been imagined only 10y a wo-
| man who has had the pain1Ui experience
| of trying 10 caI-y a loaIed tray upstairs.
The foundation Is an oDong copper tray, in
| the center of which is secured a small
alcohol lamp; on this rests securely lit
| tie coffee or tea pot, delightfully."- squat.
-Four curved ribbons of copper surround the
| lamp and terminate above Ii i'm a wooden
| or ivory handle. The cups, plates, sugar
! bowl cream pitcher. ETC., in any desired
glaze. lit in their places on the tray, which
| requires only hand to carry. 1t is
| charming piece, and as ingenious as 1t Is
! beautiful.
The feminine touch is discernible i'm other
! pieces. The jardinieres and tree tubs, for
| example. are made with earthen pots which
| exactly ft. Everyone has observed how
| often the effect OF good Jardiniere is i'm
paired by ugly red rim OF pot too large
to slip inside the opening.
For her ideas the woman potter has gone
| into all manner of out of the way places.
| finding some good old American pitchers
! and bowls. and many quaint bits of foreign
manufacture which have served as sugges-
! tea cups was modelled after a very old
silver cup, picked up In Europe, and a
| favorite pitcher was first shaped in old
| mould found in a long disused pottery in
| Connecticut. These ideas, crudely express
| ed. are turned over to artist OF tnteli-
| gence and recognized talent, who formu-
lates them for practical use.
| The woman potter and her son, whom
| she has taken into partnership, do all the
1txxtx hFafn Of no atD Ra