THE PRODUCTS OF CLAY AND FIRE 



shape. There is great contraction, however, and as 

 pieces so made are very porous there is always danger 

 of crazing in the glazing. 



In making pottery by casting, just as in pressing, 

 most pieces are not made entire in the mold. Handles, 

 spouts for teapots, rings for covers, etc., are made 

 separately, and afterward fastened to the wares by 

 men called "handlers," if they work on small pieces, 

 or " stickers-up" if their work is on the larger pieces. 

 Good " sticking-up " requires a thorough knowledge of 

 clay ware, as well as deftness on the part of the 

 workman. 



MACHINES THAT MAKE POTTERY 



As we have seen, the pottery-makers themselves 

 are largely to blame for the introduction of certain 

 kinds of machines that turned out earthenware much 

 more quickly and economically than could be done 

 by hand. This is not surprising in this age of ma- 

 chinery. The truly surprising thing is that the manu- 

 facturers waited so long before discovering that it 

 was possible to substitute machinery for men. That 

 ordinary pottery should pass through the stages of 

 being "wedged" by hand, "batted" with a mallet 

 or rolling-pin, or "pressed" slowly and laboriously 

 into molds, seems incompatible with our ideas of 

 modern progress in the mechanical arts. The potters 

 awoke to a realization of this a little over a quarter of 

 a century ago, at which time machinery for making 

 commercial pottery began rapidly replacing hand- 

 methods. 



[255] 



