THE PRODUCTS OF CLAY AND FIRE 



The more the clay is worked and molded by the 

 thrower the better will be the ware, and any careless 

 work on his part is likely to show in the finished piece. 

 It may have every appearance of being well made 

 before firing, yet as it comes from the kiln it will bear 

 the marks of the thrower's carelessness in the form of 

 ridges running from top to bottom, and distortion of 

 the piece caused by variations in the pressure of the 

 thrower's hands. 



"As machines are now rapidly replacing human 

 throwers, a few words on the decadence of throwing 

 may not be amiss," says Sandeman. "In times gone 

 by nearly all round, hollow ware was made by throwers, 

 and a really skilful man not only impressed originality 

 on any artistic work he had to do, but could also, when 

 necessity arose, produce with astonishing rapidity a 

 large quantity of any article exactly to size. It is not 

 wished by this statement to insinuate that there are 

 no such men to be found to-day, as that would create 

 quite a false impression, but during the last quarter 

 of a century business in pottery all over the world 

 has increased in volume owing to a general higher 

 standard of living and a larger demand for comforts 

 in daily life, and the demand for throwers exceeded 

 the supply, as the number of good throwers was always 

 limited, and it required a long apprenticeship to learn 

 their art, and even then very few arrived at the neces- 

 sary stage of proficiency to undertake all classes of work. 



"The demand, then, for the thrower was great, 

 and there was a certain class of work which could 

 only be made with his assistance, and this gave him 



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