Bob,
Is this a good analogy?
I take it that; pressed lugs = wheel thrown, and cast lugs = mold made
I think the difficulty with this whole idea is that there is some derision towards cast lugs because they are somehow inferior to pressed steel ones because they are "trying to be something they are not"
Isn't cast gold made into jewelry? Haven't cast bronze statues been an art form for a thousand years?
Maybe "carving stone" to "casting bronze" is a better comparison.
I too have wondered how the "means of production" influences the design of any craft/art (whatever, lets not go back there), I know very little about pottery, ( I'm a big fan of Berndt Friberg). But I don't think Investment Casting lugs is an inherently inferior process to pressing flat pieces of steel. If you want something really special, just commission your own castings!!
Grant McLean Toronto.Ca
Bob Hovey wrote: I made pottery for many years and worked exclusively at the wheel. Many production facilities turned to mold-made work in an effort to increase production and lower costs. Most potters I know had no problem with that as
long as the mold-made work retained some degree of good design and integrity
(by integrity, I mean a considerate use of the medium and a trueness to the foming method). So if a mold-made piece was well done and made honest and effective use of the mold making process, we had no problem admiring it. But when a mold made pot sought to imitate the "look and feel" of wheel-thrown pot, with it's unique fingermarks and inconsistencies, that's when we got angry. All mold-made work is not bad... molded work pretending to be something it's not is another matter...