George Lewter

76, Male

Lansing, MI

United States

Profile Information:

What is your experience with ceramics in general. (Long answer encouraged)
Now that I've retired from my day job, I'm hoping my work in clay will provide a little secondary income, or at a minimum, pay for itself. I studied ceramics at San Francisco State University in the early 70s, and then tried to scratch out a living as a potter for several years, and finally went on to other pursuits where I could actually earn a living. For the next 30 years I never touched any plastic clay.
In 2004 I took a 10 week class at the Greater Lansing Potters Guild in Michigan, and discovered that I still really enjoy working with clay. I have taken several more classes and slowly put together a basement studio with an electric kiln, a small slab roller, and a used electric wheel.
My early experience was in the cone 10 reduction, gas-fired arena.
I founded the cone6pots network in the Spring of 2008 to provide a rich, highly interactive, online meeting place for mid-fire potters. The first couple of years saw very slow growth of membership, but now we're adding members at about fifty a month.
What is your current involvement with electric fired ceramics? (long answer encouraged)
The switch to cone 6 oxidation has led me in a whole new direction of glaze development, and it took me the best part of a year to start getting some results that I felt were acceptable. I have tested several hundred glaze recipes off the Internet, and from the books of Michael Baily, and John Hesselberth.
Using an aftermarket programmable kiln controller has allowed me much more control of my firing cycles and improved my results immensely. My introduction to single firing in 2009 has been a great boost my creative energy by compressing the creative process and making glazing more integral with the forming process instead being divorced from the raw clay processes. Attending a Steven Hill workshop in the fall of 2009 helped refocus my work on glazes that interact in complex ways and hover on the edge between chaos and control.
All our content is viewable by the public. Why do you want to be a member, when you can already see everything as a non-member?
Great interactions with other members. An online community of friends that will spill over into the real world.
Where do you work on your ceramics projects?
home studio
How did you find this network?
other

Comment Wall:

  • Robert Young

    Thanks for the welcome sir! I am still trying to get to the point where I can throw more than two or three decent pieces in a three hour stretch, but I thought maybe I could learn something here... so here I am.

    May 1, 2009

  • rita thompson

    Hi, I was attending a handbuilding conference in Wayne, Pa. this week and our speaker last night was Bill Daley. I was so inspired by him that when I came home I was looking for more photos of his pieces and at some point I was led to this site.
    I am hoping to learn thru the experiences of others and hopefully I'll be able to share some accumulated knowledge along the way.

    Sep 19, 2009

  • Robert Young

    Hey George, changed the picture for the high schoolers... Hopefully this one is better.

    Oct 2, 2009

  • Randi Martin Kish

    Thanks for the welcome, George. I am still exploring this social network, and trying to figure out all the possibilities that come with being a member of cone6....in time, I am hoping to create a web presence here. Later, I will try to post some photos of my work...so much to do, so little time.

    Nov 4, 2009

  • Randi Martin Kish

    Thanks again..for your kind words. Regarding my carved jars...I am not actually sure of how much time they take to carve..I don't pay attention to time when I am working, and tend to get lost in the 'zone'... eventually it gets completed over a period of time...hours..days...sometimes weeks, depending on the size of the pot...but it is a slow process...

    Nov 4, 2009

  • Elizabeth Mostello-Harris

    Dear George,

    Thank you so much for your kind words. As you can see, it has been several days since I've been able to visit the cone6pots site! I truly appreciate the scientific method which you apply to the investigation of cone 6 glazes. I'm trained as a medical researcher myself, so I gravitate toward scientific experiments and data.

    Actually, I'm intrigued by the photo of one of your iron-bearing glazes, the one with which you achieved green crystals on a black background. From the photo, I wonder if you've developed a tea-dust glaze, one which I've seen frequently associated with reduction firing and which I've been unable to duplicate. It's one recipe which I intend to experiment with soon. Besides the color (and I understand that you were trying to produce iron reds), is there another reason why you felt that the glaze was unattractive and not useful?

    I'll be around more when the holiday season winds down...

    Liz

    Liz

    Nov 27, 2009

  • Charan Sachar

    Yes. That is me who posted the video on slip decoration with mylar paper. Just joined here and still trying to figure out the ins and outs. Thanks for the welcome.

    Dec 8, 2009

  • Miri Hardy

    Thanks George. Still need to take the time to "visit" on the site but figured I might as well make myself at "home"! :-)

    Dec 8, 2009

  • EE

    Thank you George! Hope you don't mind that I invited members of our etsy mud team to check out the site. I want to add my etsy stream like you have, but am struggling to figure out how to insert it. How about a tutorial! Kathi

    Dec 8, 2009

  • EE

    Sorry about the rogue upload, I am a bit confused with the technical aspects of the site - not my area of expertise. Hopefully I removed it okay. It looks like I did, but let me know if it is showing up where it shouldn't be. I thought I was putting it on my personal page when I did that. Yikes!
    Kathi

    Dec 9, 2009

  • EE

    I just set up the etsy group, but am not sure where to go from there. I am certainly happy to help with etsy and paypal questions if anyone has any issues or just wants info. I have to figure out how to start a discussion for the group though.

    (I keep getting sidetracked by your great photos that are scrolling above, and wonder is that a fake ash glaze recipe or real wood ash on the pitcher - I am experimenting with wood ash glazes, but have concerns about the corrosive effect it may have on my kiln)

    Dec 10, 2009

  • Randi Martin Kish

    Thanks for your comment about one of my jars...interesting interpretation...yes, the surface designs tend to look abstract...and much of them are, but if you could see them more closely, you would see...texture, pattern, text, symbols, numbers, hidden messages...words...images...etc.
    Thanks for sharing your thoughts..

    Dec 10, 2009

  • George Lewter

    I don't see that problem with the Sankey database when I look at it in Internet Explorer 8 at home or at work. All the text is intact, and if I go to larger fonts, it wraps to shorter lines maintaining all wording. I do get the problem you described if I use firefox as my web browser. If I have time I will look for a solution, but the file is intact as is. It is a browser issue.

    Dec 22, 2009

  • Brian Dean

    George Love some of your glazes. I particularly like the C Harris Temoku Breaking Red Glaze. Can you confirm this is the recipe for that?

    C Harris Temoku Cone: 6
    Color: red brown black
    Firing: Oxidation Surface: Glossy

    27.8 Silica
    18.6 Kaolin--EPK
    18.6 Nepheline Syenite
    9.2 Gerstley Borate--1999
    9.2 Dolomite
    9.2 Talc
    7.4 Bone Ash
    100 Total Additives
    11.1 Red Iron Oxide
    Comments: One hour hold maintained within + or - 10 degrees of 1742 F with plenty of oxygen circulating are the keys to the best red development.

    I have a Skutt Electric Kiln with a programmable controller but it does not have a vent. How do you get "plenty of oxigen circulating" in that event?

    Thanks,
    Brian Dean

    Jan 4, 2010

  • John Britt

    It is my pleasure. Hope I can learn stuff and help people on the way.

    May 7, 2010

  • Troy Bungart

    Hi George, I know it's a big lake but do you know the Thompsons on the south end of the lake or the Cordes on the north end? This site looks like it has a lot of very dedicated potters on it. I find it hard to believe how much glaze testing has progressed in the last 15 years. I have been cleaning up my studio and several kilns have been ruined by the ravages of time and mice. I have picked up a used evenheat but without any fancy controls. From what I have been reading it looks like that is what I need to do the work I want to do. Thank you for the welcome to the site and I look forward to reading about what is going on here.

    Troy

    Jun 9, 2010

  • Victoria Cochran

    Hi George, thanks for adding me. Happy to provide whatever info I can. I'm working primarily on horizontal surfaces, such as tiles. So far, so good, with the single firing...minor quirks/easily solved.

    Jul 6, 2010

  • Becky Clark

    Hi, Thanks for the welcome wish! I haven't met Ginger Steele or Mark Heimann, but I will look them up. I recently moved up here from Colorado so I'm just getting into the crowd here. Right now I'm making some pots at Stark Street Studios.

    Oct 31, 2010

  • Raymond W. Lopez

    Thanks George.

    Nov 23, 2010

  • Dave Hodapp

    Thanks, I should have thought of that.

    Nov 23, 2010

  • Raymond W. Lopez

    George,
    Thanks for looking out for me.
    Ray

    Nov 24, 2010

  • Thomas

    Hey George, I read your comment on the problem with the wax, I use Shellac on my potts and I think it works better then wax. It also goes on alot better and lasts a lot longer then wax.

    Dec 6, 2010

  • Kathy Ransom

    I have 2 profiles now George as I moved, have a new email address, and can't remember my old sign in password! I've written the new one down so it won't happen again. Will you be able to remove my first profile?

    Dec 7, 2010