Thursday, January 24, 2008

Pottery

Pottery is a type of handicraft. Pottery is the art of making earthenware, stoneware, ceramics.

Usually, in Pottery, the clay body is manipulated to a particular shape, and then the clay body is hardened in a kiln, to induce permanent changes.

Steps in Pottery:-
  • First obtain some clay. Wash the clay toroughly in blungers( a large pot) to remove pebbles and sand and other impurities.
  • Clay is mixed with water, to moist it. This makes the clay easier to handle by the potter.
  • Then a chunk of clay, is put on a potter's wheel and shaped. This is known as "Throwing". The clay can also be shaped in a mould.
  • After the pot is shaped, it is subjected to fire in a kiln. This is known as firing. The temperature of the fire has variations depending upon the type of material to be formed. For pottery it is generally, 1420°F.
These basic steps are followed, almost in all cases. Of course, variations can be there in design and shaping.

Some good pottery:-






















Saturday, January 5, 2008

Satyajit Ray, my all time favourite director


Satyajit Ray is my all time favourite director, and according to me, one of the greatest artist that humanity has produced. He has won 32 national awards, an award at Cannes film festival for the best human documentary, an Oscar( only Indian director to get an Oscar), and numerous awards at national and international level. His massive award collection suggest that he is perhaps one of the greatest director in the history of mankind. Great film personalities such as George Lucas(creator of the star war series), Akira Kurosawa, Lindsay Anderson and many more have highly appreciated his work.

He was also a writer of repute, he wrote novels and short stories. Many of his short stories, were published in "Sandesh"(means sweet in Bengali) a fortnightly magazine, which was started by Ray's father, Sukumar Ray and later revived by him. His Feluda stories, and Gupi Bagha stories have created a legacy.

Along with possessing mastery in all aspects of film making, he could also paint very well. This shows that he was a complete artist.

The best thing that I like about him is that the simplicity with which he portrayed his characters. It takes a real genius to make a complex thing simple, and he mastered in doing that. Even in his short stories, he did not go into lengthy descriptions, he just touched upon the essentials, and yet you could feel every part of his characters.

Let us all "Salute this Genius".