Roberta12

For me watching videos or reading books would not have been enough to get me on my path that has made me a production potter for 5 decades . Those things are just ad ons to the real education I got at school from those who knew more in ceramics than most.Nothing beats the learning directly from teachers especially with throwing,glazing and firing. Maybe as a hobbist it will do fine but for a professional no way.My 2 cents 
Junior collage can be done on the cheap these days

Could you post a photo of the item you wish to slipcast? The answer depends on whether the design has distinctive and original features that would be recognizable as somebody else’s work. For example, is it a simple straight sided cylinder, and you think it’s perfect due to its proportions? Then this would be fine to replicate. Or, does the piece have a bas relief sculpture of an animal? Then this is not something you can replicate and sell. Simply making small modifications to it would not put you in the clear. That’s considered a “derivation” which is just as illegal as a copy. The lack of a manufacturer’s mark also doesn’t matter. You can take inspiration from other person’s work, but only if you incorporate the idea into a substantially new idea. Slipcasting is already a technique meant for “copying” so a copyright violation is far more likely, compared to handbuilding or wheelthrowing where it becomes really difficult to successfully copy. 

I deleted my previous comment here becasue as GEP has clarified directly below, my 2-cents worth was not a good suggestion.  (I had thought doing an alteration of the original & the absence of a makers mark would be OK).  I was wrong!

I'm coming at this question from one of the things I made a mistake with when starting out. I had taken some ceramics classes as a kid and loved it, fast forward a number of years and after my fourth child I had some postpartum depression and needed to get out of the house. Local rec center had pottery classes which I signed up for without knowing anything about the instructor. Big mistake! No end of things the instructor did incorrectly (including sieving a bucket of glaze materials dry, in the class and with no ventilation system or masks). I was the only new person in the class, everyone else had taken classes with the previous instructor who was great but was no longer working there, they all just used the class time to work on the wheel or handbuilding but didn't glaze anything.  New instructor had no knowledge of the glazes and gave very little instruction on how to throw pots. It was very discouraging to say the least. 
Back to the question of the week, if I were starting again I would vet the sources I'm getting info / techniques from. Really not helpful to watch someone throw a pot or give advice if they don't know what they are doing.
Oh, and one other thing, don't cat lick your pots. 

Pres, who normally does the Q of the week, is taking some well deserved time off, and we’re filling in for him for a few weeks. There’s a couple of suggestions in the list that we’ll be using, but I wanted to start off with this question.
Personally, I’m always interested in what other people make, and how. I don’t think pottery videos will ever get old. What I’ve noticed over the last 2 years especially, is that there’s a lot of folks that took up doing pottery at home, learning online, and posting it on social media.  
In perusing the socials, especially the video based ones,  I come across a lot of beginners who are doing a lot of  things awkwardly or inefficiently, as you’d expect for folks getting started. But if you’re working alone in your workshop, you don’t have access to others at a similar stage of learning to trade ideas with, or help problem solve.  Without making light of anyone, and acknowledging that sometimes people do “inefficient” things because they feel otherwise satisfying,  what things would you suggest to any beginners to make their lives easier? Are your suggestions based on the assumption the advisee is working towards a more professional level of work, keeping it as an enjoyable and small scale activity, or will it work for everyone?
I’ll start with a maybe slightly controversial one for the non-professionals  who are considering buying bat systems: You don’t need bats for mugs, unless they’re wider than they are tall. Learning to lift small items cleanly onto a ware board cut to fit your shelves saves more space. You won’t regret it.
Along similar lines, I’d also like to suggest that if you don’t like cleaning bats, take your sponge to it before you remove it from the wheel and the slip is still wet. It’ll help lower dust in your studio a lot, and then all you have to do is scrape the remaining clay off with a  6” drywall knife/scraper when you take the piece off the bat.

if it is still in a box with a label, look for the cone number.  sometimes they are printed differently than the usual sales pitch box.  look for a rubber stamp ink with half inch high numbers.  you might ask bill kielb since he lives there.  

Those are my pots but that is my Marcia’s brushwork. She is a portrait artist, my job is to throw the shape she devised for her decoration on command and I also need to make sure the glaze works regardless of how she decorates. Sort of like the OP …… just a different canvass for her. It’s why we spent a whole summer testing glazes with various thicknesses and layers of underglaze. My airbrush skills are ok though but Marcia paints daily. I have some skills but she is crazy good at painting.

@Bill Kielb, lovely pots and brushwork! Is that some of your work?

As a Laguna distributor the NEW current price is $62 at the best wholesale price break
This high price will start when suppliers reorder-so just a heads up

Just a heads up if you use Tin buy some NOW
Distributor Tin cost has just doubled 
Most Tin is from Mymar and its a mess now politically
I'm not much of Tin user myself but if you are may want to double down on it now

I cannot choose.    It's the whole thing for me.
r.

I cannot choose.    It's the whole thing for me.
r.

I cannot choose.    It's the whole thing for me.
r.

The only secrets I don't share are the ones where I'm breaking the rules-or common best craft practices-or ignoring the science-AND the situation is one in which I am looking to avoid the snarky assumptions that I don't know what I am doing or am "violating" someone's sensibilities in some way that I certainly cannot be responsible for. 

This is a great question.  I wouldn't be doing what I do if it weren't for people who shared their skills and tips and tricks.  I just spent a weekend in Denver at a glaze materials workshop.  It was a wide mix of people and skills and ages.  One of the younger men who is the ceramics director at a studio in Denver commented on how the host of the workshop (Jonathan Kaplan) was still asking questions and learning from the presenter (Matt Katz) who is much younger.  You never stop learning seemed to be the message and you never stop sharing.  Lots of people were asking questions of one another and sharing ideas, recipes, techniques etc. 
 I was given a recipe years ago and asked not to share it.  So I have not.  Everything else that I have learned over the years I readily share.  Like @GEP I have also heard Sarah Pike explain that she does not share her glaze recipes.  She developed/tweaked it and it is hers to use.  There does have to be some proprietary parts to a business I would think! 
 

I also think that your customers don’t need the gory details of your pricing formula. Its not that I think we need to lie about things or not be transparent when necessary. It’s that presenting any additional charges, whether it’s adding shipping to checkout or sales tax or credit card fees, is drawing unnecessary attention to something no one really likes. It generates a feeling of misrepresentation when you keep adding things to the price tag, and that can be really frustrating (or worse) for some. I don’t want my customers frustrated, I want them happy so they come back. I don’t want to generate more opportunities for myself to have to smooth ruffled feathers.

I agree. Make it easy for your customers to give you money.
I had a neighbor at a show who refused to take credit cards. She only did 4-5 shows a year so she didn't want to mess with it, and said many times that the 3% fee was highway robbery. All weekend long I saw people asking if she took cards and and then walk away when she said no. She could have sold another $500 of her work for $20 in fees.

This is a great question.  I wouldn't be doing what I do if it weren't for people who shared their skills and tips and tricks.  I just spent a weekend in Denver at a glaze materials workshop.  It was a wide mix of people and skills and ages.  One of the younger men who is the ceramics director at a studio in Denver commented on how the host of the workshop (Jonathan Kaplan) was still asking questions and learning from the presenter (Matt Katz) who is much younger.  You never stop learning seemed to be the message and you never stop sharing.  Lots of people were asking questions of one another and sharing ideas, recipes, techniques etc. 
 I was given a recipe years ago and asked not to share it.  So I have not.  Everything else that I have learned over the years I readily share.  Like @GEP I have also heard Sarah Pike explain that she does not share her glaze recipes.  She developed/tweaked it and it is hers to use.  There does have to be some proprietary parts to a business I would think! 
 

I recently gave away my slip mixer tank and motor and pump to another potter who could and is using it daily in her business-as well as some master molds.
I bought her SS  VMP20 Peter pugger as well. I did not ask for any $ for that stuff as its hard around here to find anyone who is in the slip making world.This stuff all went to Portland Or where slip is a thing now more than other locations.
I sold a Brent wheel last year during the begining of covid for a good deal for her (not trying to gouge any buyers) at a time when  wheels where non extistant.
Its all part of the ceramic community in a broader sense I feel ,we help one another as this is hard enough and helping others avoid mistakes is the right attitude to have

I would agree about the proprietary parts of a business to a certain extent, but when it comes to the marketplace, I would not have a problem with sharing one of my glaze recipes or techniques with someone who is not working or selling in the same market as I am...

I feel you change over time about sharing. For me it was quest of knowledge for  the 1st 20 years then the next 20 years was about execution. The past 10 years (yes it been 50 years now)  has been about to some extent giving back. I have lots of knowledge  in kiln building, marketing , firing and glazing and instead of dying with that info I have tried to give some of it back
Ceramics takes about two lifetimes to master things-I am near the end of the 1st one
I only have 2-3 things I have yet to share-one is my rutile glaze  reciepe that I use the most of my 15 glazes (its out there if you look) the other is salt/soda coating I developed about 15 years ago. I have shared components of it (today someone is calling me with a salt kiln  question from NC) I have thought about marketing it but am on the fence still.
The last thing is I was given Otto Heino's Million dollar yellow recipe and  promised not to share it so I respect that promise
All  the rest is an open book-I have written some articles for CM that really are just sharing  what I have learned. I really want to encourage others on how to be successful in a full time pursuit of ceramics  as I have. The thing is one can make a really good living at this if you have the fortitude drive and tenacity .If I can pass this on to one person I feel I;ve done a good job
In our area (most of the west coast as well ) there are not many young potters up and coming doing funtional wares-the void is huge. Right now the market demand is at an all high and I'm scaling back. My most hopeful local younger potter has long haul covid and at least for the past 2 years cannot even make pots as he has no energy. -Its a sad story. he may never recover as its all an unknown.

Great question, Pres. I’ve been thinking about this issue a lot lately.
I do not share my exact glaze recipes, because I feel that keeping them to myself is necessary when running a business. If you have some aspect of your work that makes you stand out as individual and original, that’s a very valuable asset. However I will freely tell people that my main glaze is a modified version of a semi-matte base recipe from MC6G, and that they can figure out their own modification. I also share all of my glazing techniques (though not for free).
I agree with Denise that it would be impossible for anyone to copy another person’s pottery, but that doesn’t stop people from trying. 
In recent years I’ve been leaving most of my shows with very few pots, and one time with no pots, and I can (sometimes) see other artists looking at my near empty booth with some confusion about how I managed to do it. Most of the answer to that is shared freely on my blog, for those who care to read it. But it is scattered around, and some of the most important bits are in videos that are not free. So I am planning to write an in-depth blog post soon, where I consolidate all of it into one place. This is the kind of stuff that I don’t mind sharing. 

West coast shows for me  have always been 1/3 to  a bit more cash-the pandemic years a  bit less cash

People apologize for using a credit card? I’m a little jealous. Here on the east coast it is totally taken for granted. Maybe a few times per year, a customer will ask if I prefer a check, because they know about credit card fees. I’ve done two shows this year so far, and like I said in a different thread, cash usage is coming back, up from 0 last fall. At one show it was 6.6%, and the other show was 1.5%. I’ve just accepted that I have to pay to use Square. 

My insurance (Hartford) covers my shop/studio, product liability, art fair liability, and my kiln repair work, for $235 a month. A lot of that cost is the kiln repair work, because it's considered high liability since I'm working with things that use a lot of power and get really hot, and could in theory do a lot of damage if I do something wrong. My insurance broker said a lot of insurance companies won't even cover me because of the kiln repair work. They just don't want to take on the liability, even though there's never been a claim on my policy in the 18 years I've been in business (knock on wood).