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What Do You Get Out Of This Forum Interaction?


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I came to this forum asking if anyone had had wrist surgery and had bones removed as I was very concerned this may end my career in ceramics. I did get one reply from abroad if I recall and it was not good. I had the surgery( really had no choice) and am still making pots on a grand scale after a tough rehab period. I recall typing with one finger my 1st few months on this board.

 

What kept me here was a feeling of sharing . That sharing is two sided at least one is what I have learned in my area of ceramics and the non competitive spirt here ( I had some rough experiences on another ceramic forum ?I'm not saying which).

It was a combination of my age (old enough to want to give some back) and helping others not fall into the potholes I have tripped in and learning some new insights that could also help me.

I have learned some things here that I use weekly in production and work with new items I learned about here (like diamond sanding pads)

I have met many here that I can relate to and have gotten the satafaction of mentoring thru the potters counsil as well. I had been a member a long time before I joined this forum .

What I like is the advice here is just given and one can take it or not but no one gets personal about it. Its not my way or the highway. The older I get the less I know but I do know that things work differenty for different people so my way of something is not the best way or the only way just a way that works for me.. It may work for you and it maynot .This can be said for all advice from whomever and folks here seem at ease with the process.I have been around long enough to really enjoy the sharing from both sides of the aisle here.

Mark

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i will never write a book, i have nobody to leave my studio and equipment, i will not have made an impression on the clay world when i am gone.  maybe something i have said will matter to someone here.  those little "likes" are nice to see.

 

I still recall our first meeting at the Bluemont Fair . . . that meeting and others after it are among the reasons I've kept at this and, I hope, making better pots. 

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I really think I may have given up on pottery without this forum. In the beginning I had numerous equipment issues. This forum was my only source of help. (Didn't get any from the local community studio). Through this forum I met others who understand a passion for clay. Most inspiring are the older potters who are still throwing. It fills me with endless hope for many years of productivity.

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I am about five years in and this forum has been essentially an unpaid group of consultants. I'm not sure any potter, for any amount of money, could put such a team together by design.

 

Any time, day or night, I reach out and almost instantly pros and amateurs alike start joining together to help me work through whatever it is and together we always seem to successfully work through my issues. 

 

I find this both amazingly helpful and very humbling.

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The ability to research issues on this site is akin to having the Encyclopedia of Clay at the ready whenever one needs it. Some call that "lurking", but since I don't get to the site each day, I'm more in the "catching up" category. I post when I have somthing to contribute and it isn't too redundent...like tonight...☺

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Sunday evening, 3 hours of C.A.D. Youtube videos, waaay too much coffee, a fat sketchbook and a headful of creative steam.....I am roaring for the studio tomorrow.....

 

Marcia, you have made my week (months, years??) with the most magic line in your video 'Making a Crackly Surface for Obvara Firing' when you said...' the advantage of this is that there is no smoke so it can be done in an urban setting..'   As a frustrated, urban living 'wish-I-could-do-raku-without-the-fussy-neighbours' potter I can't wait to try this!

 

What do I get out of this forum interaction.....SO MANY FANTASTIC IDEAS!!

 

Irene

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Hi Mudslinger and all,,,,I have to chime in here in response to your 'wish-I-could-do-raku-without-the-fussy-neighbours' comment. While many people see Obvara firing as a method related to Raku. It is not Raku. Similarly, Naked Raku and horse hair Raku are also an offshoots. Marcia is correct in saying that there is no smoke produced during the Obvara post firing step. It is steam. A common misconception about Raku involves the post firing phase. All Raku firing requires that the work be removed from the kiln when it is hot. This is the post firing, is integral to Raku, and is what differentiates Raku from conventional firing. However, not all post firing practice involves smoking or post firing reduction. In fact, traditional Aka (red) Raku firing never did, and does not involve post firing smoking of the ware. So Mudslinger, the bottom line is that you can do Raku without producing smoke.

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Guest JBaymore

I just did the pre-NCECA workshop where I shared the Japanese Aka Raku process at Steve's Potter's Shop Studio.  Nope no smoke produced at ALL from post firing. Pulled and air cooled. And if you don't do the intermediary charcoal firing...... no smoke at all from any part of the process. 

 

More than one way to skin a cat .  (Sorry for that turn of phrase cat lovers ;) ).

 

best,

 

.......................john

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I started here in the early years lurking in the background, looking for solutions to the everydays in the classroom. Sense of community drew me out of the sidelines to post, and get involved. Retirement, came like a stone out of no where, and the forum involvement helped me cope with not being engaged with students. I found a new classroom, and began to learn all over again as I met so many professional, and interested people on line. The sense of community here is so strong, so invigorating, that you just want to be there over coffee, or when taking a break. For potters that work in the enclosure of their studio, alone, whistling away, trodding on with little input or interaction with others in the same ocean. . . the community here is a nurturing force. I hope we never lose it, and will do all I can to keep it as interactive, and supportive as it is today.

 

best,

Pres

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When this forum began we were not at all sure of what would happen. We had all been exposed to the flames and personal rants on many other Internet forums so wondered if we could succeed with " opinions exchanged with courtesy". Some thought it would be bland and boring ... They thought flaming fights and hurt feelings were somehow part of the package.

 

Thanks to all of us here ... 'They' were wrong.

Woohoo!! ... and with statements like Pres'' above, I think we can all look forward to many more years of help, information and community.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Coming a little late to this topic as I only  just noticed that the pc section is about more than just council business.  About the only thing I don't get out of the forum is ease of searching.  The search function for some reason has never been very helpful to me.

 

Everyone has pretty much said everything already...so of course I'm going to say more... : -)

COMMUNITY!!!  Non-judgemental.  Supportive.

 

Every once in a while someone new comes on the forum and asks a really broad, not very well thought out question.  I roll my eyes and think..."Go to the library!"   And then, invariably, within a short period of time, at least a couple of members answer with thoughtful, encouraging posts and I am humbled once again by the generousity of this group of people. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hadn't answered this question before, because, really, you've all said it before me.

 

But today, what I got, was a real feeling of empathy to my "what's on my mind" post.  I'd gone to bed with doubts, couldn't sleep so got up after half-an-hour, then spent three hours looking at clip-art and frustration.  Made my comment and went back to bed.

 

This morning, I saw support, empathy, and encouragement.

 

That is what this forum gives me, so Thank You

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This is my first post to the forum and had to post a comment to thank you all. I am one of those newbie "lurkers" soaking up information on this site like a sponge. I have 3 months experience in handbuilding/sculpture and am hooked. I have an unfinished garage waiting to become a studio, a used kiln with a crumbly lid and have recently retired from the scientific world- itching to try my hand at glaze recipes.  This forum is amazing. With all the support offered here (and respect for newbies and masters alike), I feel like I might have a chance at building a decent and safe working studio, fixing my crumbly kiln brick and finding some amazing glazes for my future ceramic creations. Thanks! You all are great!  

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