Acoma Flavored HF

[Steve Schlumpf]

This hollow form is the very first piece I roughed out on my new lathe. If interested, you can check out the original thread First Rough Out (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?175292-First-Rough-Out-on-New-Lathe&highlight=). Lots going on this time of year, but I was finally able to finish it this week.

Loosely based on an Acoma styled pot, this Maple HF is 12” diameter x 10” high by 3/8” thick. It has a lot of cracks (all repaired with CA), some bark, birdseye and curl. Sanded to 320 grit, it has several coats of wipe-on poly and was rubbed out with 0000 steel wool to create a matte finish.

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As always, your comments, opinions and critiques are welcomed!

Thanks for looking!

[Jim Burr]

You're going to need more shelf space Steve...these things are huge!!! Great finish, looks like pottery!

[John Keeton]

Steve, judging from the before/after pics, you apparently didn't experience a lot of movement with this one. It looks to have adhered pretty closely to the roughed out form.

Very soft, consistent and appealing curves on this one. The bottom curvature is very smooth and is complimented well by the concave slope on the top. I would say you succeeded with this one!

[Robert Henrickson]

I like it. It also is the shape absolutely characteristic of the first half millennium of the central western Iranian ceramic assemblage (ca 2600-2000 BC) which I did my dissertation on. There don't seem to be many publicly available illustrations, but a hint is in:

http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ceramics-vii [lower right pot in first of the two illustrations to the right of the text]

[Steve Schlumpf]

Thanks guys!

Robert... I know a little of your background - thanks to John Keeton - and appreciate your input! I am quite limited in my knowledge when it comes to form and only have the one book on Southwest pottery. What book on form/pottery would you recommend to help my (our) understanding of the classics?

[Rich Aldrich]

Nice work, Steve. Would you have tried one of these on your Jet or is the Robust allowing you to make these large hollow forms?

[charlie knighton]

like your form Steve, how big is your foot, love your curve down there

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

Steve, I curious about the cracks you encountered. Did they occur during the drying process ? Also curious as to how thick you left the wall thickness on your roughing. When I have cracking problems with maple when drying it's usually seems to happen on roughings that I've left about 1/2" thick. When I rough them down closer to 3/8" I don't seem to have much trouble with any cracking. I usually finish turn to around 3/16" thick so a 3/8" roughing is usually doable.

[Roger Chandler]

Nice form Steve.....smooth flowing curve to the shoulder............I like the concave top....to me it adds visual interest that opposes the other curve...........kind of neat I think.

[Doug W Swanson]

It's not a form you see very much of but I really like it. Excellent work, Steve! But then we expect nothing but the best from you!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nice and interesting form Steve. I do like it. I do like the matte finish on it.

[Michelle Rich]

Big piece! not a shape I have seen, with the tall body. the concave rim is interesting. Hope your new lathe is still a treat to work with and you get time to produce more for us to enjoy.

[Alan Trout]

Steve,

That pot turned out really nice. I really like the form.


Thanks guys!

Robert... I know a little of your background - thanks to John Keeton - and appreciate your input! I am quite limited in my knowledge when it comes to form and only have the one book on Southwest pottery. What book on form/pottery would you recommend to help my (our) understanding of the classics?

I am definitely not an expert on classic forms like Robert is but I am very fortunate to live in the museum district of San Antonio. On Tuesday evenings the San Antonio Museum Of Art has free admission. They have a wonderful collection of ancient pottery. Classic Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and pottery from all over Asia, including tons of pottery from many different Chinese dynasties. including a lot of Native American pieces. I have spent many hours just looking at the details of these pieces. It really is a wonderful resource for me.

Alan

[Jerry Marcantel]

Well done Steve. My thoughts if I was able to accomplish something like this. With the tall body, I would have embellished it with a groove at the transition of the verticle wall and the shoulder..... Jerry (in Tucson)

[Robert Henrickson]

Robert... I know a little of your background - thanks to John Keeton - and appreciate your input! I am quite limited in my knowledge when it comes to form and only have the one book on Southwest pottery. What book on form/pottery would you recommend to help my (our) understanding of the classics?

That's a real question! I have only dealt with the Near East and Aegean in my career (5000-150 BC mostly). Most of my knowledge comes from hands-on experience, about half my career with with relatively unknown assemblages. In addition, I have generally worked with utilitarian pottery rather than the sort more often seen in museums. Most Near Eastern pottery was mass-produced after 3500 BC and frequently it shows in the shapes (my late wife once excavated part of a pit the size of a VW bug and recovered literally thousands of sherds and almost complete examples of a single coarse conical bowl type).

Despite what is said about "you can find everything on the web", my career is great counterexample, such as my abortive search for pottery I did my dissertation on (finished back in the early 1980s). I just found a few examples of the assemblage I worked on.

At the moment I still can't find close parallels to your shape online, but

Related to your shape
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/l/large_pottery_jar.aspx

A fragment I've handled and drawn, from a jar similar to your vessel:
http://www.artslant.com/ew/events/show/158181-the-archaeology-of-godin-tepe-iran

From later in the assemblage:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ggnyc/1328487333/


That said, archaeological reports can be a great source. If you are particularly interested in classical Greek forms, the Athenian Agora excavation reports (or any major Greek site, such as Corinth) on pottery offer entire volumes of photos and/or drawings e.g.,
Black and plain pottery of the 6th, 5th, and 4th centuries B.C. by Brian A. Sparkes and Lucy Talcott.

Or search for "Black Figure" or "Red Figure" Greek pottery -- are thousands of images online -- these are the classic art pottery of the ancient Mediterranean. I have to admit that I am not a great fan of most classical Greek shapes, but many people are. Minoan pottery is interesting, and lots of images are online (I did spend one summer excavating at Minoan seaport on the south coast of Crete -- dug from 6AM - 2PM, swam from 2-3 in the Mediterranean which was the border of the site -- hard life).

Perhaps a productive approach would be simple to go to your local library and search "pottery" or "ceramics" in the catalog, then go to the shelves and just pull things off the shelves. If you are near a university library, your opportunities are vast. Oriental porcelain offers a wide range of shapes which appeal to many people.

I hope something in this may help, or contact me.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Robert - thank you for taking the time to research some links for all of us! The jar at the British museum sure proves the point that there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to form! I do have access to a very nice library and will make a point of researching their pottery section the next time I am in town! Thanks again!