Frontispiece Stoneware Made by the Author.
The Potter's Craft
A Practical Guide for the Studio and Workshop
By CHARLES F. BINNS
Director of the New York State School of Clay-Workingand Ceramics ¶ Some time a Superintendent in theRoyal Porcelain Works, Worcester, England
SECOND EDITION
SECOND PRINTING
26 PLATES AND 20 TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS
NEW YORK
D. VAN NOSTRAND COMPANY, Inc.
EIGHT WARREN STREET
Copyright, 1910, 1922
by
D. Van Nostrand Company
All rights reserved, including that of translationinto the Scandinavian and other foreign languages.
Printed in the United States of America
LANCASTER PRESS, INC.
LANCASTER, PA.
"A book is written, not to multiplythe voice merely, not tocarry it merely, but to perpetuateit. The author has something to saywhich he perceives to be true and useful,or helpfully beautiful. So far as heknows, no one has yet said it; so far ashe knows, no one else can say it. He isbound to say it clearly and melodiously ifhe may; clearly, at all events."
—Ruskin.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
Since the publication of the first edition of thisbook eleven years have elapsed, years packed full ofvaried and interesting experiences.
During that time it has been the pleasant fortuneof the author to conduct classes, especially summerclasses, in the science and art of pottery production.These have been occasions of meeting many fine andnoble personalities whom to know is a liberal education.As one of the consequences of these experiencesthe book has been revised and some new chapters havebeen written. Especial acknowledgments are due andare gratefully made to Elsie Binns for the chapteron Clay-Working for Children and to Maude Robinsonfor that on Alkaline Glazes.
The photographs are by the Taylor Studios, Hornell, N. Y.
C. F. B.
Alfred, New York.
March, 1922.
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION
This Book is the outcome of an experience extendingover a period of thirty-six years. Twenty yearsago it would have been impossible, for the science ofceramics was not then born. Ten years ago it wouldhave been wasted for the Artist-potter in America hadnot arrived, but now the individual workers are manyand the science is well established.
Written teaching must be imperfect, but I have endeavoredto set down the exact methods by which mystudents are taught, in the hope that those who cannotsecure personal instruction may read and understand.
As far as possible didactic statements have beenavoided and the a