Gabby

It sounds like you are handling a difficult situation brilliantly. I am not ill but a young one I love beyond measure is seriously, permanently ill, and I am glad for medicaid.

Lee, I  like the notion of knowing that we are not alone.   We can still be creative and support each other's journey.  Finding ways to move forward despite the odds is acting creatively.    Gabby's idea is a good one.  Does someone teach pottery making in your area?  A interested student may want to help just to add to their education. 
Acceptance of the physical limitations that our bodies are putting on us is very difficult for me.  I worked on the wheel for a short time several years ago but stopped because of the pain in my hands....ended up have surgery on my right hand...nothing as extensive as Mark C and Johnny K have had done...but serious enough for me to examine how I work with my hands.   I still experience weeks of downtime if I overdo it.    Was thinking for a while that I would not be able to make pottery.  That was a depressing time.  After feeling sorry for myself for a while...decided to figure out how to rearrange my life so that I can follow my dream of making pottery.   Here's what I got so far:  We have stopped taking large and heavy work in the restoration business ....yeah, we can do it, but the downtime needed to recover is not productive.  When was doing my work at a local community art center, I started testing out using their big Bailey slab roller to help with wedging....works great....so I saved up and bought one of those.  Also, I have chosen to go with a small kiln to start, it has 15" shelves (I don't always make large things...It will also challenge me to come up with creative ways to design and make something large.  I have the name of a guy who can help with the big gardening things I do...like move the giant plant pots or big plants.  I am even researching easier plants or shrubs to grow in the yard so that I can maintain the use of my hands.
Thanks to all for sharing. 

Lee, in reference to your speculation that creative people may suffer more than their share of bedevilments, you might find interesting the book Touched with Fire, by Kay Renfield Jamison.  She is a scholar, clinician, and master storyteller whose own bipolar disorder brought her to study the relationship of mental disorders and creativity.  She also looks at the predisposition to the abuse of alcohol and other substances.
There is a strong correlation between great creativity and some mental disorders as well as alcoholism.  In bipolar disorder it is the hypomanic state, the transition state, rather than the poles that connects closely to creative achievement. 
I don't think research suggests that creativity and physical illness or creativity and more general suffering are strongly correlated though. Said differently, people with physical illness who are highly creative would likely have been just as creative had they stayed well. Life hardships in general can cut either way in terms of creativity and creative productivity, sometimes enhancing and sometimes stifling.
( I was a teaching fellow for a course on this subject some years ago when I was doing research in this area).
 

It sounds like you are handling a difficult situation brilliantly. I am not ill but a young one I love beyond measure is seriously, permanently ill, and I am glad for medicaid.

This is a very important question, and I am glad to see it posted..
I am in my sixties, but as I am fairly new to clay, I don't have repetitive use injuries from the practice.  I also don't generate any sort of volume.
When I took a wheel class for the first time one year ago, I realized I needed to throw standing.  Right now that is how I am accommodating where I am physically.
I also don't work for more than a couple of hours at a stretch.

Many of you already know I have Multiple Sclerosis,  my first relapse was when I was throwing a vegetable bowl.   I had just finished a set of tableware and decided I didn't like way the glaze came out.   My right arm wouldn't work right and I was in a lot of pain,  I was sent to a neurologist because my GP thought I had pinch a nerve in my elbow.  The rest is history.  I wasn't going to let this disease take away everything I had worked for so I started making tile murals.  I made those for about 7 years and I got to the point where I needed more and more help from my husband in moving them and installation.  It wasn't fair to keep him away from his car restoration projects.  I decided to go back to my love of ancient pottery and do some coiling,  I have been coiling now for three years.   Recently Mark C found a Brent wheel on E-Bay in my area so he sent me a message about it.   I bought it and sold my kick wheel that I could no longer use.    I have been throwing small bowls and mugs trying to retrain the neural pathways in my brain the way they do with stroke patients.    My arms are pretty weak,  I hope practicing builds my throwing muscles.   I have a back up plan in case I get to the point I can't work in clay anymore.   I have been growing gourds and drying them,  they look like pots and you can carve, paint, cut and stain them.   Don't let aches, pains or a serious disease take away the work you love.   A woman in my neighborhood was hit by  a car, her daughter was on the other bicycle and was killed.   The only part of her body she could move was her head.   A helper would set up her paints and put a brush in her mouth and she would paint beautiful still life's.  She never let her disability get her down and was inspiring to everyone she met.    Denice

Forgive me in advance if this has been asked before.  I have over the years seen a variety of visuals online that display for a collection of eminent creative people- writers, artists, and so forth- how they spend their days, typically. The interesting thing in these is the variety in the time of day people spend at their creative work, some starting in the morning and ending at 4, say, others starting at 4 and going into the night, some working at a stretch and others doing a couple of shifts, and so forth. There is also variety in how they spend the times they are not working. Some have a habit, like a walk. The choreographer Twla Tharpe, I believe, takes a cab to the gym every morning for a couple of hour workout. Some people have time specifically dedicated to reading (most of the writers do) or to family/spouse time.
So there is my question. Recognizing that some days are obviously different from others, and some here have studios that are available only in warmer weather or not in really hot weather, what is the typical day, hour block by hour block, during a time of year you are at your ceramic work?

LeeU
Advanced Member   Members  520 1,014 posts LocationNew Hampshire Report post   (IP: 65.175.181.4)     Posted 11 minutes ago I've been thinking a while about those of us who have spoken about various limitations, challenges, health impairments, disabilities, and so forth. Some folks have had to leave the Forums and reduce their work because of certain conditions of body and/or mind (tho I believe they are integrated, not two separate issues). There is no Forum particulary suited or appropriate for discussion about one's aches and pains, or serious impediments that affect our ability to work in, and enjoy working in, clay, or work-arounds that help make it easier to function and hang in there. So, my question is:  Either generally or specifically, what do you think, feel, and/or do when confronted with moderate to serious/severe limitations of some aspect of health that alters how you work in clay? 
 

Gabby,
They are for Savannah Bee, a honey company that is now selling my honey jars, mugs, and soon teapots. Nice catch on the decoration. I stamp them before shaping, that makes the images larger where they get expanded. The lids are stamped after trimming.
 
best,
Pres

Pres, are those beautifully shaped teapots full sized or small? Are they a commission from a bee enthusiast?

Working in the brick garage in Summer is an advantage as it stays cooler. This is yesterdays completion, as more were thrown. still need to rub off nubbies.
 
best,
Pres
 

Large-ish asymmetrical slab bowl in progress. Speckled buff clay body, lightly pressed pattern on outside, carved vine maple leaves and seeds on inside. 

I'm not a big spend time in the office guy. As it is I have to bookkeep more than I would like and I try to limit this to winter hours as much as I can. I try to spend time outside more in outside season and less office time. If the weather is crappy then its office time.
Also now that I'm only doing 6 shows and more wholesale /and some consignment then planning is less hard. 
I have always done the same shows so I do not have to think much about when as they are always about the same times yearly.
I used to calendar up as Mea does now but it no longer like that for me. I used to work backward from the show to calculate the fires and times.
But now for example I have a show next week on the 4th of July-I packed 95% of van last week. All the pots are in that load. There is some what I call loose ends left to add but its not pottery.
I'm working towards my Big summer show in Anacortes Wa and most of that work is also done and just needs to be unloaded from two kilns priced and packed. I still need to make some wall fish art and some more spoon rests (just threw 200 in last two days)
I tend to glaze on Mondays or Fridays-Glaze fire on Saturdays or Tuesdays. Throw Heavy on Tuesdays and Wednesdays -deliver pots on Thursdays to markets-Unload and price on Fridays-this is General schedule not fixed in stone and it varies.Things like fishing diving or shows change this basic schedule
At a certain point you just know what needs doing without much thought and an office/computer is not needed.
I make a list at the show of whats needed to fill in the stock and work from this list-same with general Market stock(wholesale and consignment)
I also make another list of that shows Best sellers-I alway pull this list out at least a month before show and make sure that all those items I'm well stocked in. They seem to always be about the same with some yearly variances.On this list It may say bring 350 spooniest or two boxed of sponge holders or one plates sold well,or 8 boxes of mugs.
I try to never run out of stock and get ahead as much as I can so I can do what I want when the weather/Ocean cooperates -especially in summer.
I know come late December I will spend days accounting in the office-right now the sun is out and pots are drying and need trimming or handling.

Wedding Jar, the one posted earlier after glazing.

Clay toys
 
The ceramic I class has frequently required a ceramic toy (~90% ceramic) as one of the final assignments.  Students have made dolls, pinewood block derby type cars, checkers and chess sets of all sizes (one chess set used Raku pieces about 6-8 inches tall), jigsaw puzzles, dice, rattles, dominoes, blocks, and some other toys I don't remember.  Some were glazed, others were finished with acrylic paints, and some were left unglazed.  Many were just fired to bisque and then finished with paints and stains.  The assignment was especially challenging to the students that thought only traditional function ware was pottery. 
 
The Ceramics II class had a similar assignment, usually early in the semester, called the trompe l'oeil assignment, which in my mind is a sophisticated version of the toy assignment.
 
I had a classmate sometime back that worked with miniature cups, saucers, tea pots, bowls, bottles, etc. all less than 1 inch in size, all wheel thrown.  She sold them at festivals for dollhouse ware.  
 
I have made fortune cookies, apple popovers, dice, puzzles, tic-tat-toe boards and a bowl of grits; some were fired to only bisque, others fired to cone 10, with either oxide staining, burnished clay, or raw clay as surfaces.  The aesthetically successful ones were gobbled up at the club sales, the not-so ones become road rocks.  
 
I'll look around the storage cupboard and see if I have any pieces left for photos - don't hold your breath. 
 
Making toys requires an additional set of skills besides those of just manipulating clay.  Toys are expected to be "toyed with", not just become decorations on a desk or in a cabinet.  Therefore, the toy must also be functional and robust enough to be used as a toy.  The ceramic pinewood derby car required several tries before the student got the weight balanced and the wheels and axles aligned in three dimensions.  He learned a lot about making stuff from the assignment. 
 
LT

A finished piece from this week.

I went to grad school with Boomer Moore, who doesn't necessarily make toys, but makes pots that look like toys:

Fun stuff!

A lesson learned...
The last weekend in February was the last time I touched a kiln load of pots ready for single-fire glazing. Around June 6th is when I started to glaze. I pour the liners on mugs and pitchers. Then begin to spray the exteriors. 2 days after pouring a thin crack appeared in 2 pieces. I looked in the Hamer book and found out the crack is from readsorption. We had a very rainy spring with periods of extreme dry weather. The pottery shop had the windows open during this time. I took me about 2 weeks to glaze the pieces and 29 test glazes. Kiln was fired June 17.
I have always d processed the pottery this way. Throw a kiln load, then when all pieces dry, begin to pour and spray. I have never waited this long between the making and the glazing. Lost 5 pieces due to this readsorption. 
Never in my wildest dreams, in order to make decent pots, did I consider being a physicist, chemist, geologist, and any other ...ist I may have left out.
Picture of the hairline crack and a picture of the survivors. At least all were not lost. Also, I finally figured out how to properly load the kiln. This firing had the most even firing across the whole kiln. All cone 6 were bent exactly the same. 
  

I am stuck a little on what counts as a toy.  Is a clay bulldog or clay hippo a toy? I have made those.
Another project that has long  interested me that I have not yet executed is "not paper dolls." Anyone who played with paper dolls knows how flimsy they are. One could make a flat clay figure directly for dressing. Alternatively, I have some glass bottles in my basement to be embellished as "outfits" and plan eventually to make actual character heads on dowels to change up among them.
Again not quite a toy, but do you know those zen gardens that typically consist of a pan of sand, a little rake, and a bunch of pebbles.? I have seen those with textured clay balls in place of pebbles. How does one finish a ball all over that doesn't disturb a kiln shelf, please?
For that matter, any game played with tokens could be made up with clay tokens- checkers, a game where one moves tokens forward, tic tac toe... 
I have long ago try to make a top out of clay. Most Jewish kids have tried that, probaly, inspired by the song:" I had a little dreidl, I made it out of clay..."

I am stuck a little on what counts as a toy.  Is a clay bulldog or clay hippo a toy? I have made those.
Another project that has long  interested me that I have not yet executed is "not paper dolls." Anyone who played with paper dolls knows how flimsy they are. One could make a flat clay figure directly for dressing. Alternatively, I have some glass bottles in my basement to be embellished as "outfits" and plan eventually to make actual character heads on dowels to change up among them.
Again not quite a toy, but do you know those zen gardens that typically consist of a pan of sand, a little rake, and a bunch of pebbles.? I have seen those with textured clay balls in place of pebbles. How does one finish a ball all over that doesn't disturb a kiln shelf, please?
For that matter, any game played with tokens could be made up with clay tokens- checkers, a game where one moves tokens forward, tic tac toe... 
I have long ago try to make a top out of clay. Most Jewish kids have tried that, probaly, inspired by the song:" I had a little dreidl, I made it out of clay..."

I've got a very busy week ahead of me. I currently have 101 pots under plastic that I will have to start trimming and decorating tomorrow, including 2/3 of a dinnerware set, a bunch of mugs, cups, tumblers, oil bottles, and soap pump bottles. I've got a show on Saturday, so my goal is to have it all done by lunchtime Friday so I'm ready to fire for the next show, when I'll need all of this work. Wish me luck!
                

Until about ten years ago, I usually played oldies as background to almost anything I was doing- work, leisure reading, driving, anything. 
Then I got a bulldog puppy who, when she napped, snored like a 300 pound guy.  Bullies sleep a lot, and one can hear it throughout the house. It was a beautiful sound. I used to say she was the Pavarotti of snoring. She was beautiful to look at also.
Since she died, I don't play music as background to anything other than driving. I prefer listening to the sounds of my old house, the street noise, the birds, and even the planes I can hear from inside.  My neighborhood is really quiet even though the homes aren't very far apart, so it is centering to hear the same sounds that have surrounded me these 30 plus years in this house.

Anything I have that is special, whether something I have collected or something left from my parents or my husband's parents or anything of sentimental value, I have entered on a spreadsheet with a physical description in one column and an explanation of why it matters in the other. Some things are entered in groups, like "Lithuanian houses," or  "Mama-made paintings."
I did not always do this, but we went through this when we updated our will.

Anything I have that is special, whether something I have collected or something left from my parents or my husband's parents or anything of sentimental value, I have entered on a spreadsheet with a physical description in one column and an explanation of why it matters in the other. Some things are entered in groups, like "Lithuanian houses," or  "Mama-made paintings."
I did not always do this, but we went through this when we updated our will.

Yes.
Being disciplined doesn’t mean stifling creativity. If you simply wait around for some mysterious inspiriation fairy to hit you upside the head with a magic “I will now make awesome art” stick, you’re not going to make a lot of art. You must be disciplined to create reliably, but how you go about that discipline is important.
If you’re applying discipline to produce creativity, it means doing all that you can to create the headspace in which idea generation occurs, and doing those things diligently. It means protecting that space once you have it, too. Some of this discipline  is self care, and looks like messing around to the outside observer. It’s not. A burnt out mind can’t generate good ideas. 
Most of it is showing up and doing the mundane tasks, even if you don’t feel like it. Practicing skills is also critical. Musicians play scales, painters and drawers sketch and do colour studies, potters throw cylinders. Discipline in this instance  does not mean being harsh with yourself. It means showing up and being receptive. It helps to also be in motion, and not thinking too hard about it. Hence all the cleaning or pugging.