One of the things I've noticed in pottery videos from the US is just how often they name brands.
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@Remittancegirl You are painting with a broad brush, I see plenty of commercialism in Europe.
@CartyBoston I'm referring specifically to the ceramics community, and to instructional videos.
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@Remittancegirl IMO, if I know what brands of stuff people use, I'll be able to buy it.
@NicksWorld Exactly. That's definitely the object, of course.
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What I love most about pottery is how universal it is. How little it requires in terms of materials. You can gather and process your own clay, you can repurpose kitchen utensils, plastic cards, etc. for tools. You can hand build on a kitchen table. You can mix and refine your own pigments and glazes. Firing is really the only thing that requires something complicated. Especially if you live in the city.
But if you live somewhere rural with some space, even building your own kiln is not that hard. Many people around the world fire pottery in fire pits in the open air.
Women, primarily, all over the world making cooking pots by coil building. Clay and water, and maybe a bit of sand.
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But if you live somewhere rural with some space, even building your own kiln is not that hard. Many people around the world fire pottery in fire pits in the open air.
Women, primarily, all over the world making cooking pots by coil building. Clay and water, and maybe a bit of sand.
To me there is a profound and inherent dignity in this. To make vessels that hold water, hold food, cook food, hold oil, etc.
I do not know why it touches me so deeply, but it does.
Having every specialised tool identified by brand name just shits on all of that for me.
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@teadrinker Exactly this Bec. It is something that bonds us all together.
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To me there is a profound and inherent dignity in this. To make vessels that hold water, hold food, cook food, hold oil, etc.
I do not know why it touches me so deeply, but it does.
Having every specialised tool identified by brand name just shits on all of that for me.
@Remittancegirl consumerism goes really deep with USians. I don’t really get “culture shock” (I’m much more attuned to the universalities of human culture than regional differences) but the one moment I understood it was a few years ago, listening to a now 80+ year old grandpa fondly remembering the chain restaurants his family took him as a child.
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To me there is a profound and inherent dignity in this. To make vessels that hold water, hold food, cook food, hold oil, etc.
I do not know why it touches me so deeply, but it does.
Having every specialised tool identified by brand name just shits on all of that for me.
You know, you need clay, a piece of smoothed wood or plastic, a bent piece of sharpened metal, a tiny piece of old cloth and a piece of fucking string.
You need some glaze you can make yourself, and a few oxides.
And you can make the most breathtakingly wonderful things.
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One of the things I've noticed in pottery videos from the US is just how often they name brands. Brands of clay, of glaze, of forms, of tools. It's like one long ad.
This offends me at such a primal level, that I cannot concentrate on learning anything from the tutorial. The constant encroachment of consumerism triggers a blind refusal to listen.
This must be a European thing, because Americans don't seem bothered by it at all.
#pottery #ceramics #consumerism@Remittancegirl it gives us an excuse to go full Partridge.
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You know, you need clay, a piece of smoothed wood or plastic, a bent piece of sharpened metal, a tiny piece of old cloth and a piece of fucking string.
You need some glaze you can make yourself, and a few oxides.
And you can make the most breathtakingly wonderful things.
@Remittancegirl hello, when i read your words, i think about the catrier bag fiction theory of Ursula LeGuin.
https://www.ursulakleguin.com/the-carrier-bag-theory-of-fiction
I understand the feeling of building something usefull by our own skills. It's such a feeling of true liberty, true owning. -
One of the things I've noticed in pottery videos from the US is just how often they name brands. Brands of clay, of glaze, of forms, of tools. It's like one long ad.
This offends me at such a primal level, that I cannot concentrate on learning anything from the tutorial. The constant encroachment of consumerism triggers a blind refusal to listen.
This must be a European thing, because Americans don't seem bothered by it at all.
#pottery #ceramics #consumerism@Remittancegirl I don't claim to be a potter, but I learned to characterise soils, particularly clay (phyllosilicate mineral)-rich ones on texture, water content & absorbancy, CEC (cation exchange capacity) and yes - colour.
But not brand.
Needing some 15,000 tonnes per ha (500+ lorries), branded companies couldn't supply. -
But if you live somewhere rural with some space, even building your own kiln is not that hard. Many people around the world fire pottery in fire pits in the open air.
Women, primarily, all over the world making cooking pots by coil building. Clay and water, and maybe a bit of sand.
@Remittancegirl
Temper temper ! -
You know, you need clay, a piece of smoothed wood or plastic, a bent piece of sharpened metal, a tiny piece of old cloth and a piece of fucking string.
You need some glaze you can make yourself, and a few oxides.
And you can make the most breathtakingly wonderful things.
@Remittancegirl As a European-born it still shocks me how Americans have been brainwashed into the belief that if you do something it's worthless unless you make money out of it.
It's not everyone of course but it's really embedded in the American culture.
White American culture I should say.Minorities seem to have a better sense of the importance of sharing for the sake of sharing.
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One of the things I've noticed in pottery videos from the US is just how often they name brands. Brands of clay, of glaze, of forms, of tools. It's like one long ad.
This offends me at such a primal level, that I cannot concentrate on learning anything from the tutorial. The constant encroachment of consumerism triggers a blind refusal to listen.
This must be a European thing, because Americans don't seem bothered by it at all.
#pottery #ceramics #consumerism@Remittancegirl I can confirm it's not an European thing, it offends humans. Why it doesn't offend Americans is a mystery pending resolution.
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@Remittancegirl I can confirm it's not an European thing, it offends humans. Why it doesn't offend Americans is a mystery pending resolution.
@vruz Good point.
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J jwcph@helvede.net shared this topic
