Turners and Burners

I've finally finished reading a book! It's been, what, about three, four weeks? I've been trying to whittle down a backlog of Economist magazines and it's cut into my regular reading time. Oh well.

So the book I finished was Turners & Burners, by Charles Zug. I had to finish it because it was due back to the library today. Yes! I actually have a library card, and I use it! Amazing, no?

But anyway, this book is about the folk pottery tradition in North Carolina. Sort of an esoteric subject. I'd write an honest review of it, but I think the odds of anyone reading this blog, at any time in the future, really needing this book, are pretty slim. It is, at least, a wealth of knowledge, and has a lot of good pictures in it. Zug has written the definitive book on the subject, such that he is referenced in almost every significant American pottery book that has been written since. And, I learned a lot of good techniques in this book--capping pots, ways to do lids and handles, that sort of thing.

This is the sort of book I'll have to check out again in the future. It has everything you'd need to be a North Carolina folk potter--glaze recipes, notes on where the clay came from, how to build a treadle wheel and a kiln, how to fire. Turners and Burners may not be a book for everyone, but if it's a great resource if you want to know anything about the life of the folk potter.