Celebrating Ceramic

THERE IS AN UPDATE TO THIS BLOG POST

Hi Everyone,

We are very happy to report that Laguna Clay Co. has responded to our requests for more information regarding the seller that has been misrepresenting the product sold as Air Dry Clay as Ceramic.  Of course we knew the entire time that we were correct &  this was not a case of "artistic interpretation" but sometimes in life we find ourselves defending proven fact against misinformation and I really happy to be part of the small group of ceramic bead artists who cared enough to do something about it.  I do hope that all the people who bought the tutorial and were misinformed will now follow through & describe their finished product truthfully.   Enjoy all the materials that are out there to create your beautiful art but please be responsible and advertise them properly when selling them.    Through our attempts to enlighten we were called bullies and liars - even though our initial requests were done so thoughtfully and professionally.  Its very frustrating but it is important to always stay the course when people are being manipulated.
Thank you for following & Here is Laguna Clay Co. response:

Hi Lisa,

A Ceramic object by definition must be fired, among other things.

See- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceramic_materials

Just because one uses raw materials that are often used to make ceramics, that does not necessarily mean the object you make with them is Ceramic.

By definition, Stoneware is a Ceramic object and therefore must be fired. See- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoneware

We have informed the person in question of this which is the extent of our control.

Thanks, Jon Brooks - Laguna Clay Co.

BEADS -RAKU FIRED CERAMICS - Fired to approx. 1800 degree's 

I never thought I was going to do anything else professionally other than photography (and all those side jobs doing this & that over the years ;) and when I started working in other mediums, clay was really the last thing on my mind - until I took my first pottery class & the rest is history.

Husband Hank & Friend Nadine Firing up my RAKU/Gas Kiln

I had a really good teacher - I am not sure we were on the same page with a lot of things but she was very dedicated to ceramic and very dedicated to making sure her students, even though we were adult education students &  kind of taking her class as a "hobby"  had a pretty good understanding of Ceramic Chemistry and the science behind the medium we were working in.   What I thought was going to be a class on making plant markers and very basic forms actually turned into a really wonderful experience and I stayed on for longer than expected until I left for bigger.. um, smaller & better things.   I am very glad that she thought it was important for us to know clay, to understand what it is & what makes it different from other materials. As a bead maker now I feel confident when my customers ask me a technical question about my beads and it is my responsibility to be as thorough & precise as I can when it comes to educating them.

RAKU WARES right before they are removed from the kiln shelves,  placed into organic materials to burn and covered
Pots by Lisa Peters & Nadine Unsworth

CERAMIC.. what is it?  I thought I was going to sit down and really get to the bare bones about the material I use to make beads - but after reading Marsha Neal's article about Ceramic for Love My Art Jewelry Blog I don't think there is anything I can say to top that!  (and you know how wordy I can be!)  Here Marsha explains Ceramic in its entirety - so I would urge you to please read the LMAJ blog - it is an extremely informative article & I really enjoyed reading it myself.

The celebration of ceramic has been inspired by an unfortunate event in which a wonderful new air dry product that seems to mimic stoneware is being plugged as "true stoneware" or a true ceramic product by a tutorial writer on Etsy.   It is most important for you to know that this is not the fault of the manufacturer. The manufacturer has responsibly described what their product is on their website and packaging.  But it has come to our attention that this Etsy seller who has created a tutorial for this product is leading people to believe that the product is in fact true Ceramic body without a need for firing which simply is not true.   It is important for the us to do our best to make sure those who may want to purchase something like this are not being mislead.  After many failed attempts of requests from the Ceramic Community for this person to truthfully describe the tutorial we are sad to say they have gone completely ignored.

So now its time for all of us to Celebrate Ceramic & become educated!  Please hop on over to the Love My Art Jewelry Blog and read Marsha's very interesting article as well as checking out Natalie Pappas's from NKP Designs blog - who also wrote something on this subject as well.

PODS c.2005 -RAKU FIRED CERAMICS - Fired to Approx. 1800 degree's by Lisa Peters

I want to thank everyone for stopping by the blog today!
as always I wish you
Happy Creating!

Lisa