Denice

Make sure you have enough lighting, everything looks good in the dark.    Denice

Make sure you have enough lighting, everything looks good in the dark.    Denice

Make sure you have enough lighting, everything looks good in the dark.    Denice

Make sure you have enough lighting, everything looks good in the dark.    Denice

Make sure you have enough lighting, everything looks good in the dark.    Denice

I would have to say no,  I have seen to many disasters where a low fire piece was stuck in a high fire.  The person swore it was high fire clay,  I have fired a few pots made with my clay  by friends and neighbors,  but I am usually unhappy with glaze applications and do some clean up before I fire them.   Denice

No no no no no no no no no no. In addition to all the issues for potential damage to my kilns and kiln furniture, there are the problems of storing the work before and after it's fired, and conflicts over the results of the firing. It's too easy for people to blame the kiln owner for something not coming out like they expected- "it didn't look like that when I had it fired at another studio"- or to blame the firing for the glaze running and damaging a shelf/kiln- "it never ran like that at the other studio". Chances are if they don't have a kiln they don't understand the variation that exists from kiln to kiln. Too much potential for arguments and unhappy people and unpaid invoices. My opinion is that if you want to work in clay then you need to either invest in being part of a community studio or invest in your own equipment. Both are costly, but most hobbies are.
That said, I do have two people for whom I fire. One is a very good sculptor I have known for years who makes unglazed figurative forms, so no firing trouble there. The other is a former student whom I totally trust, and who understands that she has to work around my schedule. She brings stuff in on the day I can load the kiln, and picks it up on the day it comes out.

I would have to say no,  I have seen to many disasters where a low fire piece was stuck in a high fire.  The person swore it was high fire clay,  I have fired a few pots made with my clay  by friends and neighbors,  but I am usually unhappy with glaze applications and do some clean up before I fire them.   Denice

I would have to say no,  I have seen to many disasters where a low fire piece was stuck in a high fire.  The person swore it was high fire clay,  I have fired a few pots made with my clay  by friends and neighbors,  but I am usually unhappy with glaze applications and do some clean up before I fire them.   Denice

I started out very focused, learned the basics quite well--got a good comprehensive ceramics education (and a BFA in crafts). Then I  became engaged with experimental techniques/more sculptural work, while still in VCU art school. (I was going to out-Voulkus Voulkus, don'tcha know).  It became a moot point when I took a detour into a 25 Y career in the addiction treatment field. I thought it would be short lived, because voc rehab was willing to bankroll my Master's if I committed to working in public service for a few years. I turned out to be very good at specialized program design & getting federal grant funding, so ceramics went into the attic to gather dust. After I retired (State Planner in Behavioral Health for NH DHHS) I constructed my little studio in my trailer (bedroom & back porch). However, I have lost so much ability (physical/cognitive) that I can't get back to where I once was. So, my present place is some  "other direction".  At the moment, I'm  just looking to satisfy myself and make enough (local smalls of the home decor variety)  to break even, which I am finally doing. Probably the most consistent thread from then to now is I am continuing my Hidden Mask series, which I started back in '81. 

I feel like any diagram or 2D representation of my career path should involve crayons, lol!
To say it was indirect for a good long time is an understatement.I did start off being pretty focused, and got a whole BFA in ceramics, but when I graduated, I had what I know now to be the crash that every gifted kid with case of undiagnosed ADHD seems to wind up with. So I worked a bunch of wildly unrelated retail or reception jobs for the next 14 years, and made pots on the side while Life Happened and Was Not-pretty (TM).
After having a couple of kids and coming to the conclusions that 1)I make a terrible employee but an awesome boss, 2) since I can predictably earn a couple hundred bucks every time I resupplied the one gallery I was in, maybe I just needed to consistently get my work in front of people to earn some adult money. 
Once I had relaxed and begun to see opportunities and possibilities again, my work did some pretty rapid growth and development. I built a TON of new forms, I went from cone 10 reduction to cone 6 ox, and went from using a white porcelaneous stoneware to a red stoneware with white slip deco. I challenged myself to keep the qualities of the cone 10 work that I really enjoyed while incorporating some of the easy turnover and colourful elements that cone 6 offers.  
I don’t think I know of an artist that has had direct, linear path. We all seem to incorporate bits of our lives and our loves and our experiences into the work we make.

We take a show car to car shows all summer unless it is  miserably hot.   A  few years ago the temps really went up and it was 105 in no time,  people were lined up at the food truck.  We thought it was to hot to eat and had a  couple of bottles of water for lunch.  The next day we heard that everyone who ate at the food truck got food poisoning.    Denice

I have never done a art festival but I did  Home Shows for 15 years when I owned a wallpaper store.   We couldn't have coolers at the show so I would stick a couple of bottles of water,  banana,  granola bar and a yogurt in a big purse.   We weren't suppose to bring food into the booths,  they  wanted  you to buy everything from the snack bar.   I would buy a bottle of water and eat my lunch at one of the snack tables.  No one ever said anything to me,  you can't eat snack bar food for three days.    Denice

Great product,  it has inspired me to try a  idea that has been rattling around in my head.   I have a electric rotating disc from a window display when I owned  a store.  It will spin at the pace you set it at for years.   I have  a old banding wheel that doesn't spin anymore,  I am going to try taping them together and see how it works.   If it works I will anchor them together permanently.   I love putting together old junky items and making them use able again.  The older I get the less I want to buy and the madder I get about companies making junk products that have to go directly in the landfill.   Old hippie venting!    Denice

Great product,  it has inspired me to try a  idea that has been rattling around in my head.   I have a electric rotating disc from a window display when I owned  a store.  It will spin at the pace you set it at for years.   I have  a old banding wheel that doesn't spin anymore,  I am going to try taping them together and see how it works.   If it works I will anchor them together permanently.   I love putting together old junky items and making them use able again.  The older I get the less I want to buy and the madder I get about companies making junk products that have to go directly in the landfill.   Old hippie venting!    Denice

Great product,  it has inspired me to try a  idea that has been rattling around in my head.   I have a electric rotating disc from a window display when I owned  a store.  It will spin at the pace you set it at for years.   I have  a old banding wheel that doesn't spin anymore,  I am going to try taping them together and see how it works.   If it works I will anchor them together permanently.   I love putting together old junky items and making them use able again.  The older I get the less I want to buy and the madder I get about companies making junk products that have to go directly in the landfill.   Old hippie venting!    Denice

Personal Particle Accelerator

Two one ton extended vans bought new  made by my order over past 20 years-Had one for 10 years put 180k on that one the other is also 10 years old now bought new for 35K and it has 70k on it now-slowing down on  miles now less than 4k a year on van
Then two Peter Puggers-both bought used one this year
Then Baliey electric slab roller bought new a few decades ago or more .
5-6 brent wheels over 48 year period -1st one in 1970 for 270$ new a model CXC in 82 both of those where new all the rest used except a model A off ebay-new old stock a few years ago as a spare trimming wheel
some where in this mix is lots of hardbrick/softbrick which cost more than a wheel for sure to build kilns

My big Skutt was my most expensive purchase,  it was used but needed elements  and a new cord.  My Bailey slab roller with the added cost of building a table for it was second.   My new AIM test kiln and Brent wheel were about the same price as the slab roller.   Best buy for the money was the slab  roller,  I have used it more than any of the other equipment.   I have never had to fix it and it works like a new one,  I could sell it easily for the money I have in it.  I will probably keep it until I kick the bucket,  people will be walking past it at my estate sale wondering what in the heck it was used for.     Denice

My big Skutt was my most expensive purchase,  it was used but needed elements  and a new cord.  My Bailey slab roller with the added cost of building a table for it was second.   My new AIM test kiln and Brent wheel were about the same price as the slab roller.   Best buy for the money was the slab  roller,  I have used it more than any of the other equipment.   I have never had to fix it and it works like a new one,  I could sell it easily for the money I have in it.  I will probably keep it until I kick the bucket,  people will be walking past it at my estate sale wondering what in the heck it was used for.     Denice

Sit for throwing,  mostly standing for hand building,  usually up and down like a yo yo.   Use to sit a lot because of my bad feet, now that I am older everything hurts so I just keep moving.  Denice

I also love buying historical books about art.  When I find them at a estate sale it is like finding a treasure trove,  they are coming down in price now because younger people just want to look it up on the internet.   I have quit buying so many books recently ,   having  two estate sales after  my mother in-laws death I realized I need to downsize my stuff.    Denice

I also love buying historical books about art.  When I find them at a estate sale it is like finding a treasure trove,  they are coming down in price now because younger people just want to look it up on the internet.   I have quit buying so many books recently ,   having  two estate sales after  my mother in-laws death I realized I need to downsize my stuff.    Denice

If I have a interest in a technique that I haven't tried yet I will check it out video's on-line first and make sure it is something I want to delve deeper into.   My next step is to start investigating books on-line on the subject.   I will start out with one or two books and may order more later.   Our local library stopped expanding it's art book collection,  they said not that many people checked them out.   I don,t mind buying books,  no one would write them if people didn't purchase them.     Denice

I have a shelf that is broken in half on one inch stilts above the holes in my kiln.     The outlet vent is about 50 feet away from one of my neighbors.   No complaints but they have a house full of kids so they probably don't even hear it.   I live at the edge of my town,  fields every where,   at night I can here the  the semi's on the highway that is a half of mile away.   Tanker airplanes warming up  from the airbase that is five miles from where I live.  Try wearing some earplugs  when you work in the studio while firing.   I have had my envirovent for twelve years and barely notice it anymore,  it has turned into white noise.     Denice