New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-12-21
TO MAKE POTTERY.
One Needs No Other Qualification Than a
Wish to Learn, SAYS Miss White

In continuation of her series Of excellent manuals
on beadwork and basketry. Miss Mary White has
now written handbook the making of pottery
under the title How to Make Pottery Doubleday,
Page & Co. New-York). The objection which at
once occurs to the reader that pottery is a far
more technical subject than either OF the others
and a much more difficult one to practise salts
factoriy at home by persons with no previous art
training Is 10 some extent met by the author in
her preface. She says:
IAN art like pottery making which is nearly az
old as the human race is naturally approached
with some degree of reverence. One thinks of its
old masters in various lands and ages-how they
content 10 spend lifetime in the study and
practice of it.
There is. however. another thought that comes to
mind-that this art. like every other had to have
its beginning. Moreover. every potter. from the
primitive man. who first realized that clay which
held water could be moulded into portable vessels
for like purpose. TO the artist potter OF to-day
has learned the first steps OF the craft.
1T was this thought that encouraged me to study
the beginnings of pottery. and that leads me 10
offer this book TO those who would also start clay
working with other qualification than the wish
TO learn how to make pottery"
Miss White gives careful instruction as TO clay
and tools, elazes. working the wheel, firing
methods Of decoration. the building and mana ee-
ment of kins and The other mnutae of the art.
Like ali Miss Whites handcraft manuals the
book is abundantly illustrated by the author
Chapters Indian and modern American pottery
supplement the more technical ones In no other
country Miss White says, can primitive pottery be
SO conveniently studied IN ours. Within our
borders. he who digs may read the history of clay
working from the earliest days Those who are
denied this study at first hand will find in museums
plenty Of ma terial-Quaint bowls and jars some
of them smoke stained and cracked but all won
dertully well preserved. when one thinks OF their
, age Miss White says the pottery of the Pueblo
tribes ranks first, and close TO that. the charming
wares Of the Mississippi Valley and the Gulf Coast
w more me pottery is crude and imperfect IL does
- t nsCeSsaIliy INDICATE that the people who made
II were inferior in culture, but that the natural
tribe v mere na n0 Syor able 10 pottery making
make gooo pottery as one around whose homes
would excel in that a Tbe sf fsc qbst md nee
Wnoie; the pottery OF the South is more advanced
ehces In climate. While the people of tho North
Of the South more prosperous and sto ,iSe
t then the N0r'her" tribes with leisure TO gravity
eI Turning to modern American pottery Miss White
ssdVance IN taste among American people to be
round in their appreciation Of the pottery which s
now being made in this country
,' lime was when Majolca jardnieres and Aus
gazes were things to be desired Hap T st t5ey
are gong the way Of plush covered suites of fur
Among the pioneers of art pottery in this coun-
natl who in 1850 opened potte1v c 6sas
6y the name OF her fathers place Rookwood Mrs
storer had in addition TO artistic temperament
the patience and determination, as well as tho
financial resources. necessary TO such an under
taking. The first kiln of the new pottery was
drawn on Thanksgiving Day. BY 1889 the pottery
had become self-supportng. lockwood has always
been distinctvely American pottery. From tho
nrst native clays were used, and their possblli-
ties were discovered with the firing OF each new
KIN. Gays that fire az a comparatively low heat
We're used at first and this necessitated using the
soft glazes Later, the yellow, or Rockingham,
ware formed the body Of the pieces now a
creamy white BODY is used. which produces
strong and beautiful pottery. At first the tint OF
the native clay inclined the color scheme warm
browns. yel!ows and reds. This
rated with flower or figure designs under brill
liant glaze
"A comparatively neighbor of lockwood
is the Gates pottery, near Chicago. where Teco
ware Is made The potters love for his work and
the potters zeal 70 produce something more per-
feet and beautiful than he had done before,
led William D. Gates, who rad long made terra
Gotta for architectural purposes, to experiment
with Cays and glazes until finally Teco was
evolved. 1t is a hard, durable pottery: built on
simple lines. Western artists and architects Of
note have contributed designs and forms for this
ware and, for the most part. the pieces beau
tful and restful to the eye. The few incsed. or
moulded, decorations are not made prominent
but are suggested rather than sharply defined.
Over all is mat glaze of soft, waxlike texture
In green-the green that makes think OF wealth
cred bronze"