Customer Reviews:
 Disappointing September 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is well written and of good quality, which is what the two stars are for. In fact two stars may seem a bit mean, because the book does cover in some detail, many of the usual surface decoration techniques for ceramics.
However, I like the books I buy to give me some kind of inspiration, in addition to technical knowhow. I like to admire the illustrations and think, wow, that looks wonderful, maybe I could try something similar.
As I looked through the book, I became increasingly irritated to find that probably 90% of the illustrations are of work which was 'Wood fired to cone 12,(or even cone 13), 'Gas reduction fired to cone 10', 'gas/salt/soda fired to cone 10/12'. There is little that would be accessible or achievable for the middle of the road ceramic artist who is very likely to be using an electric kiln, and virtually nothing for those who low-fire from choice or necessity.
By all means include wood fired, gas reduction and high fired work, but surely an across the board balance would be better. It is very frustrating to see so many illustrations showing results which for most of us cannot be achieved. In addition, I doubt very much if those ceramic artists who are experienced in wood, gas reduction, salt or soda firing, would have much use for a book on basic surface decoration techniques.
There is a small section on raku - where the author was obliged to stoop to showing low fired work, and a further small section on naked raku/smoke firing, but other books such as 'Raku' by Tim Andrews, and 'Smoke Firing' by Jane Perryman, (both second editions) are streets ahead in every sense, and are highly recommended.
There is a good deal of information in this book on the usual range of surface pattern techniques, but in my opinion, still the best by far in terms of content, variety, accessibility and inspiriation, is ' The Potter's Guide to Ceramic Surfaces' by Jo Connell.
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